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CSA Changes Effective SOON

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With so many CSA changes over the past few years, it’s hard to keep up.  CDLLife is here to help!  We’ve recently reported on the upcoming HOS and medical certification changes.  Next week, more changes will go into effect.

Here’s what you can expect:

[heading style=”2″]Vehicle Maintenance BASIC Changes[/heading]

Cargo-related BACIC will now be a part of Vehicle Maintenance.  Flatbed carriers often faced higher Cargo-Related BASIC scores because of their load’s visibility.  GPS Leads Driver Astray

CSA stated:

Also, including the load securement violations into new Vehicle Maintenance BASIC removes the bias in the current Cargo-Related BASIC which has resulted in identifying a disproportionate large number of carriers that haul open trailers (e.g. flatbeds) for interventions. The new Vehicle Maintenance BASIC identifies safety issues across all types of carrier operations.

[heading style=”1″]Hazardous Materials BASIC Changes [/heading]

With the removal of the Cargo-related BASIC, the Hazardous Materials BASIC will take its place.  Violations to HM BASIC will be specific to proper packaging, transporting, identification/labeling and communication of hazardous cargo in the event of a crash or spill.HazMat

CSA stated:

FMCSA is implementing the HM Compliance BASIC to address motor carriers that do not comply with Federal safety regulations related to properly packaging, transporting, accurately identifying, and communicating hazardous cargo in the event of a crash or spill. The general public is subject to a greater safety risk if HM is involved in a motor carrier crash and unmarked or poorly marked HM cargo can result in less effective emergency response, as well as injuries and fatalities for emergency responders and others.

  • The HM Compliance BASIC identifies carriers with higher HM violation rates (33.8% versus 29.1%) and HM out-of-service rates (5.4% vs. 4.0%) than the current Cargo-Related BASIC.
  • The HM Compliance BASIC will be available to logged-in motor carriers and enforcement personnel in December 2012. Further study over the next year will be conducted before it becomes available to the public.
[heading style=”1″]Intermodal Equipment Changes [/heading]
Intermodal Equipment Provider regulations will now be recorded in SMS.  The information will include violations that should have been found during the pre-trip inspection. Intermodal Carriers
CSA states:
Drivers carry safety to the road — CSA holds drivers and carriers accountable for safe on-road performance. SMS will be updated to include violations that should be found and addressed during drivers’ pre-trip inspection on intermodal equipment, in order to better identify carriers with compliance issues.
HM can greatly put the public at risk if the carrier is involved in a crash and unmarked or poorly marked HM cargo can result in less effective emergency response, as well as injuries and fatalities for emergency responders and others. This change will help to better focus FMCSA resources on motor carriers involved with HM transportation.
[heading style=”1″]Separation of Vehicle-Only and Driver-Only Violations[/heading]
Vehicle-only violations will now be separate from driver-only violations.  Carriers will no longer be penalized for violations that Tools for Truckers CDL Lifeoutside of the scope of an inspection and will not be reported in SMS.
CSA states:
In order to support data uniformity and consistency, motor carriers will not be penalized in the SMS for violations cited outside the scope of an inspection. All violations from roadside inspections will continue to be on a carrier’s inspection report, however only violations that fall within the scope of the specific inspections being performed will be used in the SMS.
[heading style=”1″]Modification of SMS Display[/heading]
Changes will be made to the SMS format.  “Inconclusive” and “insufficient data” will no longer be valid descriptions, they will Carrier's CSA Scorechange to fact-based descriptions.  Injury crashes will be separated from fatality crashes.
CSA states:

FMCSA is responding to feedback from enforcement and industry to change how fatalities and injuries caused by crashes are presented in SMS, and to stakeholder requests for more specific terminology in the BASICs. In the package of enhancements currently being previewed, the SMS display has been modified to:

  • Change current terminology, “inconclusive” and “insufficient data,” to fact-based descriptions. Fact-based descriptions are easier for stakeholders to understand and interpret and will enable them to take more effective and targeted actions to improve safety.
  • Separate crashes with injuries from crashes with fatalities. This eliminates the potentially misleading interpretation that a carrier has more fatalities than it actually does.
[heading style=”1″]Speeding Violations[/heading]
One to five mile per hour over the speed limit violations will be removed from SMS. 2012 FMCSA Speed Limiter Study
CSA states:
FMCSA has aligned speeding violations to be consistent with current speedometer regulations (49 CFR 393.82) that require speedometers to be accurate within 5 mph.
Applies to the prior 24 months of data used by SMS and all SMS data moving forward.
[heading style=”1″]Severity  Weight [/heading]
The severity weight for generic speeding violations will be lowered. 
CSA states:
The severity weight will be lowered to 1 for violations.
[spacer size=”10″]
[heading style=”1″]Paper and Electronic Logbooks Cohesion [/heading]
OOIDA ATA Legal Challenge for EOBR
Paper logbooks and electronic logbooks will now be equal in SMS.
CSA states:
FMCSA will equally weight paper and electronic logbook violations in SMS for consistency purposes.
[heading style=”1″]Fatigue Driving Will Be Renamed [/heading]
Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service) will now be called HOS Compliance BASIC.

CSA states: ATA Says Statistics About Fatigued Driving Are Untrue

  • The name change is based on stakeholder feedback and will more accurately reflect violations contained within the BASIC.


 

 

 

 

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