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ATA Expresses Concern Over CSA Accountability Decision

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American Trucking Associations’ leaders voiced concern over the recent decision by the FMCSA, under pressure from victims advocacy groups, to continue to hold the trucking industry responsible in its CSA regulations for every truck-involved crash, including those which the truck driver could not have prevented.

“With FMCSA moving ahead with its CSA carrier oversight system, it is more important than ever that the agency uses not only the best data, but also common sense to ensure it is targeting the right carriers and drivers for oversight,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said. “By backtracking on their commitment to implement a crash accountability determination process in early 2012 to hold carriers accountable for crashes clearly caused by the actions or inactions of a truck driver, FMCSA has bowed to anti-industry interest groups and unfairly called into question the integrity of police accident reports prepared by America’s law enforcement community.”

FMCSA’s research and data find that when driver actions are cited as a main reason for a car-truck collision, the driver of the smaller, non-commercial vehicle is cited in a majority of cases.

According to the ATA, drivers were penalized under the no-fault, or driver-fault, regulation for the following accidents:

Under FMCSA’s “blame truck drivers first” policy, carriers have had their CSA scores elevated for these crashes, and many, many others like them:

A December 2011 crash where the driver of a stolen SUV being pursued by police crashed into the back of a tank truck.

A January 2012 crash involving a Utah State student who was texting and Facebook messaging when she rear-ended a tank truck.

A February 2012 crash in Pennsylvania where an SUV traveling the wrong way on Interstate 70 collided with a tractor-trailer traveling in the proper direction.

A February 2012 crash in Tennessee where an SUV crossed the median of Interstate 40 and struck a tractor-trailer traveling in the opposite direction.

To read more about the ATA’s response over CSA accountability, click here.

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