The American Trucking Association yesterday sent a letter to the Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox, urging the Secretary to restrict the public’s access to the scores produced by the FMCSA’s, Accountability fleet monitoring system.
The ATA says the scores are “unreliable” and should not be posted to the FMCA’s website.
“Given the results of this research we urge you to direct FMCSA to remove motor property and passenger carriers’ CSA Safety Measurement System scores from public view,” wrote ATA President Bill Graves and representatives of nine other industry groups. “Also, recognizing the merits of raising public awareness of fleets’ true safety performance in the future, we also call on you to direct FMCSA to make CSA improvements a high priority.”
According to the ATA, the letter cites research conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO’s research report states, “FMCSA lacks sufficient safety performance information to reliably compare them with other carriers. The report went on to say that the lack of data “creates the likelihood that many SMS scores do not represent an accurate or precise safety assessment for a carrier.”
“Given the many identified data sufficiency and reliability issues outlined by the Government Accountability Office, we urge you to direct FMCSA to remove carriers’ SMS scores from public view,” the letter concludes. “Doing so will not only spare motor carriers harm from erroneous scores, but will also reduce the possibility that the marketplace will drive business to potentially risky carriers that are erroneously being painted as more safe.”
The letter was signed by the ATA, representatives from the American Bus Association, American Moving and Storage Association, the National Private Truck Council, National School Transportation Association, the National Tank Truck Carriers, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association, Truckload Carriers Association and United Motorcoach Association.
American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation’s freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward