Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) Commercial Carrier Journal Forum Scottsdale, Arizona December 2012

Agenda Why this session about CSA is important The “other” pieces of CSA Technical discussion of Safety Measurement System (SMS) improvements implemented yesterday CSA Analysis and Studies Future Improvements to SMS and Crash Weighting

Why this session about CSA is important Top Industry issues according to 2012 study by American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) CSA Hours-of-Service Economy Driver Shortage Fuel Issues EOBR mandate Driver retention Truck parking Driver health/wellness Congestion and Highway Infrastructure (tied)

CSA – Three Major Elements New Safety Measurement System (SMS) Better targets carriers for Agency interventions Broader array of interventions Includes warning letters and focused on and off-site investigations to augment the full investigations Planned revisions to Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) Regulations To incorporate on-road performance into SFD methodology

CSA – Intervention Tools Broader array of interventions to augment the Full Compliance Review Reaches more carriers Improves efficiency of investigations Identifies root causes and corrective actions

Safety Management Cycle

New Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) Regulation and Status CURRENT One of three safety ratings issued following a Compliance Review Satisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory Rating is snapshot based on date of most recent Compliance Review NEW SAFETY FITNESS REGULATIONS TO BE PROPOSED WOULD Incorporate on-road safety performance Allow for proposed downgrade in formal SFD based on monthly update of measurement system Continue to include major safety violations found as part of investigations Notice of Proposed Rulemaking scheduled for 2013

SMS Improvements

SMS Improvements July 2012 moving forward: Driver Fitness BASIC – Suspended License violations Inspectors now collecting more detailed information roadside Is license suspended for a safety-based reason? Is the license suspended in the driver’s state of record? Allows SMS to weigh more heavily safety-based suspensions a motor carrier can identify through MVR checks

SMS Improvements March 2012 Federal Register Notice Announced the first set of improvements Opened preview website for motor carriers and law enforcement Opened comment period that was extended to end of July August 24, 2012 Federal Register Responded to public comments Announced improvements implemented yesterday

December 2012 SMS Improvements: Strengthen the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC by incorporating cargo/load securement violations from the Cargo-Related BASIC. New HM BASIC More accurately ID carriers that transport significant quantities of HM for more strict intervention thresholds Better align SMS with Intermodal Equipment Provider (IEP) regulations. Align violations included in SMS with CVSA inspection levels More accurately ID carriers that should be subject to lower passenger carrier intervention thresholds Modify SMS public display to: Change terminology to fact-based descriptions instead of “insufficient data” and “inconclusive” Break out crashes with injuries and crashes with fatalities

Additional SMS Improvements Implemented in December 2012 Based on careful consideration and stakeholder feedback during preview and comment period Removal of 1-5 MPH speeding violations Lowered severity weight for speeding violations with no MPH range above speed limit Aligning severity weight of paper and electronic logbook violations Renaming Fatigued Driving (HOS) BASIC to HOS Compliance BASIC

December 2012: Move Cargo Securement Violations into Vehicle Maintenance BASIC Strengthen the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC by incorporating load securement violations from today’s Cargo-Related BASIC Mitigates bias in the current Cargo-Related BASIC whereby flatbed operators are disproportionately identified for intervention. Continues to identify motor carriers with systemic cargo securement compliance problems. Makes Vehicle Maintenance BASIC more effective. The Vehicle Maintenance BASIC will remain public.

December 2012: New HM BASIC Change the Cargo-Related BASIC to Hazardous Materials (HM) BASIC Removes load securement violations so that only HM violations remain. Provides a more objective comparison with respect to HM compliance; consequences of crashes and cargo spills are increased when HM are involved. Enables enforcement staff to better identify and address HM safety and compliance issues. Not a public BASIC now

December 2012: New HM Intervention Threshold Criteria More effectively identify carriers involved in transporting HM for stricter intervention thresholds in other BASICs New Intervention Threshold definition: At least 2 placardable HM inspections; 1 within past 12 months, and At least 5% of total inspections indicated as placardable HM inspections. The HM Intervention Threshold continues to apply to carriers with HM safety permits. More stringent Intervention Thresholds are applied to all BASICs except the proposed HM BASIC. New definition will enable FMCSA to focus resources on carriers involved in the majority of placardable HM transport.

Four Additional Changes Removal of 1-5 MPH speeding violations from Unsafe Driving BASIC Lowered severity weight for speeding violations that do not designate MPH range above the speed limit: Effective December 2012. Specified MPH Range Above Speed Limit Violation Severity Weight Not Specified 1* after January 1, 2011 1-5 6-10 4 11-14 7 15+ 10

Four Additional Changes 3. Alignment of paper and electronic logbook violation weights All “form and manner” to be weighted 1 (Paper formerly 2) All “no logbook” to be weighted 5 (Electronic “no logbook” formerly 1) 4. Renaming the Fatigued Driving (HOS) BASIC to the HOS Compliance BASIC To reflect that BASIC includes HOS recordkeeping violations that do not, by themselves, indicate fatigued driving or driving in excess of HOS limitations

Net Impact – Increased effectiveness Impact of SMS Enhancement Package #1: Carriers with at least one BASIC Intervention Threshold Have a 3.9% higher crash rate than those in the previous version of SMS; and Have a 3.6% higher Hazardous Materials (HM) violation rate than under previous SMS.

CSA Analysis

CSA Effectiveness - Results Now, more than ever, safety is everyone’s business. CSA is doing its job. In 2011, violations per roadside inspection were down 8%, and driver violations per inspection were down 10% most dramatic decrease in violation rates in a decade SMS Online in last 12 months, 40 million users sessions 10X increase from SafeStat High risk carriers have twice crash rate of national average .

SMS Data – Industry Coverage Category Approximate Number Percentage of Uploaded Crashes Carriers listed as active 750K 100% Carriers with recent activity “pulse” in last three years 525K Carriers with insufficient data 325K 8% Carriers with sufficient data to be assessed in at least one BASIC 200K 92% Carriers with sufficient negative information to have a percentile assigned 92K 83% Carriers with at least one BASIC above FMCSA intervention threshold 50K 45%

FMCSA Effectiveness Testing Objective Quantify how effectively the SMS identifies high-risk motor carriers Methodology Use historical data to examine the future crash rate of motor carriers

FMCSA Testing – HOS Compliance BASIC Strong relationship between HOS Compliance BASIC and future crash risk UMTRI CSA Evaluation and Recent ATRI paper show similar findings

FMCSA Testing – Unsafe Driving BASIC Strong relationship between Unsafe Driving BASIC and future crash risk UMTRI CSA Evaluation and Recent ATRI paper show similar findings

FMCSA Testing – Vehicle Maintenance BASIC Strong relationship between Vehicle Maintenance BASIC and future crash risk UMTRI CSA Evaluation and Recent ATRI paper show similar findings

FMCSA Testing – Driver Fitness Negative relationship between Driver Fitness BASIC and future crash risk UMTRI CSA Evaluation and Recent ATRI paper show similar findings Three quarters of carriers above Driver Fitness, exceed threshold in another BASIC

FMSCA Testing – Driver Fitness Why does this negative relationship exist? One significant area is lack of specificity in certain violations. 1) Most common violation in Driver Fitness: missing medical card. The driver may have misplaced the card: Not safety-related. The driver may have an expired medical card: Potentially safety-related. The driver may be medically unqualified: Strongly safety-related. 2) “Operating while suspended“ violations do not specify reason. Recent ASPEN improvements provide for more precise severity weights for suspensions. The inability to distinguish between these cases significantly clouds the relationship with future crashes.

Overall FMSCA Testing– Results Strongest relationships with future crash risk exist for Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service, and Vehicle Maintenance BASICs and Crash Indicator Other BASICs show a weaker relationship to crash risk FMCSA optimizes resources and oversight responsibilities through more stringent Intervention Thresholds for BASICs with strongest associations to crash risk Crash rates of Carriers above and below BASIC thresholds BASIC Above Threshold : Crashes per 100 PU Below Threshold: Increase in Crash Rate Unsafe Driving 7.10 3.90 82% Hours of Service Compliance 6.97 4.00 74% Driver Fitness 2.85 4.43 -36% Controlled Substance / Alcohol 2.81 5.25 -47% Vehicle Maintenance 5.79 3.87 50% HM Compliance 5.27 4.04 31% Crash 6.59 3.58 84% 1+ BASIC (any BASIC) 5.05 3.05 66%

Future Improvements to SMS and Crash Weighting

Future Improvements to SMS What kind of changes to SMS are being considered for the next round of proposed improvements? Comprehensive modifications to roadside violation severity weights which consider MCSAC input Recalibration of the Utilization Factor used to incorporate VMT for the Crash and Unsafe Driving BASICs Adjustment to safety event groupings in all BASICs

Crash Weighting FMCSA receives over 100K crash reports each year from States with no indicator of carrier role in the crash FMCSA uses crash involvement data in SMS to prioritize resources but does not display crash score to public – strong relationship to future crashes FMCSA continues to consider carrier role in formal safety ratings FMCSA is conducting a crash weighting research study to be completed in Summer 2013

Crash Weighting Research Objectives Are police accident reports (PARs) sufficient? Will a crash weighting determination process offer an even stronger predictor of crash risk than crash involvement and how will crash weighting be implemented into SMS? How would the Agency manage the process for making crash weight determinations

Questions? bryan.price@dot.gov