The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing to pilot-test a program to determine the preventability of certain types of \u201cless complex\u201d truck crashes, reports Heavy Duty Trucking.<\/p>\n
Findings from the demo program could lead to FMCSA allowing the removal of certain non-preventable crashes so they do not count against a carrier\u2019s crash-indicator score.<\/p>\n
The proposal calls for allowing carriers to challenge certain crashes in which it is clearly evident a truck is not at fault, such as when another motorist was driving under the influence; was driving the wrong direction; or struck the truck in the rear or while it was properly parked. Also included would be single-vehicle accidents involving an animal strike or a failure of highway infrastructure.<\/p>\n
During the project, the agency plans to accept Requests for Data Reviews (RDRs) that seek to establish the non-preventability of certain crashes through its DataQs national data-correction system, reports HDT.<\/p>\n
The agency would accept an RDR when documentation establishes that a crash was not preventable by the motor carrier or commercial driver.<\/p>\n
The pilot test may run for about two years, said Joe DeLorenzo, director, FMCSA Office of Enforcement and Compliance, in a July 7 conference call with reporters. He noted that a 60-day comment period on the proposal will commence once it is published in the Federal Register<\/em>, which he expects will be within the next few business days.<\/p>\n DeLorenzo said that \u201cinteresting feedback\u00a0\u00bb from a study FMCSA conducted on the feasibility of using a motor carrier’s role in crashes in the assessment of its safety was the source of the pilot program being proposed.<\/p>\n That study assessed: (1) whether police accident reports provide sufficient, consistent, and reliable information to support crash-weighting determinations; (2) whether a crash-weighting determination process would offer an even stronger predictor of crash risk than overall crash involvement and how crash weighting would be implemented in the Safety Measurement System (SMS); and (3) how FMCSA might manage a process for making crash-weighting determination, including the acceptance of public input.<\/p>\n \u201cWe looked at all the issues raised\u201d by commenters on that study, said DeLorenzo, including those who \u201ctalked about crashes that are easier to determine as non-preventable and then take off a carrier\u2019s [safety] record.\u201d The agency also wants to consider looking at more documentation than police reports to make a determination whether a crash was preventable or not, as well as whether either determination can be made. He did not rule out that such additional documentation might include video captured in a cab.<\/p>\n \u201cBy looking at this over perhaps 24 months or so, we can review the crashes and the impact [of this approach] on the agency, the industry and carriers,\u201d DeLorenzo said.<\/p>\n He added that the demo program would \u201cput some meat on\u201d the agency\u2019s research \u201cbefore we decided how we might move forward with such a program.\u201d<\/p>\n The American Trucking Associations was quick to endorse the demo proposal.<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Since FMCSA began using crash history to rate motor carriers’ safety, ATA has argued that crashes a driver could not have prevented shouldn’t be counted on a carrier’s safety record,\u00a0\u00bb said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves.<\/p>\n He added that the announced project is \u201ca step toward that goal and we appreciate FMCSA adopting ATA’s call to provide a way for carriers to strike these tragic, but non-preventable crashes from their record.<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0ATA hopes this demonstration project is a step toward a more robust and complete system for carriers to dispute and ultimately strike crashes that were not the fault of the commercial driver,\u00a0\u00bb added Graves. \u00ab\u00a0We look forward to monitoring FMCSA’s progress as they advance this important program. By improving crash accountability and data, FMCSA can improve the performance and accuracy of the CSA monitoring system \u2013 a goal ATA wholeheartedly supports.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n