Carriers will soon be able to dispute preventable crash rulings for certain crash types to have the ruling potentially overturned to “not preventable” reports CCJ magazine. An overturned ruling would result in the crash being removed from a carrier’s CSA score.
Beginning Aug. 1, trucking companies will be able to dispute certain crashes that were ruled preventable and could have those crashes removed from their Compliance, Safety, Accountability scores. The new DOT pilot program could pave the way to have crashes reviewed, deemed non-preventable and removed from carriers’ CSA ratings.
One of the trucking industry’s biggest issues with the Compliance, Safety, Accountability Safety Measurement System has been the use of all crashes, regardless of the preventability determination, against carriers in their safety ratings.
The Crash Preventability Demonstration Program will allow carriers to send requests for data reviews (RDRs) to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to evaluate the preventability of certain crashes. RDRs can be made through the existing DataQs data correction system.
If a preventable crash ruling is overturned to “Not Preventable,” law enforcement will be able to see a carriers’ Crash Indicator BASIC percentile both with and without the crash, along with a note indicating FMCSA reviewed the crash and determined it was non-preventable.
Crashes deemed to be non-preventable during the pilot program will still appear in the CSA SMS, but won’t count against the carrier, reports CCJ. The agency says it believes it is important to display all crashes, regardless of the preventability determination, to provide “the most complete information regarding a motor carrier’s safety performance record.”
The agency will begin accepting requests on certain types of crashes beginning Aug. 1 for crashes that occurred on or after June 1, 2017. FMCSA will keep the demonstration program open for a minimum of two years.
FMCSA will accept the following eight crash types for review:
- When a truck was struck by a driver under the influence or a related offense
- When a truck was struck by a motorist driving in the wrong direction
- When a truck was hit in the rear
- When a truck was hit while legally stopped or parked
- When a pedestrian or car drives in front of a truck in an attempt to commit suicide
- When a truck sustains disabling damage after hitting an animal in the road
- When a crash is caused by an infrastructure failure or falling trees, rocks or other debris
- When a truck is hit by cargo or equipment from another vehicle
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