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ATA Expresses Disappointment In FMCSA’s Crash Accountability Report

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The American Trucking Association today announced the agency is disappointed that the FMCSA “continued its efforts to delay appropriate action on the important issue of crash accountability in its CSA program.”

Yesterday, the FMCSA released the results of its ‘Crash Weighting Analysis’ study. The study examined PARS reports from the National National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS) to determine whether or not it is beneficial to apply a weighted point system for crashes.

According to the FMCSA, applying a weighted system “did not appear to improve the ability to predict future crash rates when all crashes are considered.”

The FMCSA has contends that research shows that a  “motor carrier’s involvement in a crash, regardless of their role in the crash, is a strong indicator of their future crash risk.”

“Numerous times over the past five years, ATA has respectfully requested FMCSA to screen out crashes from CSA where it is plainly evident the professional truck driver and motor carrier were not at fault,” said ATA Executive Vice President Dave Osiecki. “Instances where a truck is rear ended by a drunk driver, or hit head on by a motorist traveling in the wrong direction on the interstate, or as happened just Monday when a truck was struck by a collapsing bridge are clearly not the fault of the professional driver and certainly should not be used to target his or her carrier for potentially intrusive government oversight.”

“It is not lost on the trucking industry that the word ‘Accountability’ is in the title of CSA, yet FMCSA continues to ignore crash accountability,” said Osiecki.

“We want to be fairly judged and not be penalized by crashes our professional drivers could not reasonably avoid,” said ATA Chairman Duane Long, chairman of Longistics, Raleigh, N.C.  “It’s not only a fairness issue; it’s a good government oversight approach.  We continue to trust FMCSA might eventually arrive at this conclusion.”

 Follow this link to read the FMCSA’s study. 

 

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