CVSA’s ROADCHECK REINFORCES THE ADAGE IT PAYS TO BE SAFE

As Violations Decrease, Safety ImprovesWashington, DC (June 25, 2009) — The long-term forecast for commercial motor vehicle safety may be a sunny one, as long as out-of-service (OOS) rates continue to be one of the principal barometers to measure safety performance. According to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), Roadcheck 2009’s record total of overall inspections and Level I inspections showed significant declines in vehicle and driver OOS rates, as well as a significant drop in safety belt violations.Roadcheck is the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial vehicles in the world. This year approximately 17 trucks or buses were inspected, on average, every minute from Canada to Mexico during the 72-hour period from June 2-4, 2009.This year roadside inspectors focused on the North American Standard (NAS) Level I Inspection; Safety Belt enforcement; Motorcoach and bus safety compliance; and, Unified Carrier Registration compliance. 9,700 CVSA and FMCSA certified inspectors at 2,148 locations across North America performed a record 72,782 truck and bus inspections. Of that total, there were 57,013 NAS Level I inspections, the most comprehensive roadside inspection. Both of these outputs are significant increases over previous records for the 22-year event. The total inspection output is a 7.1 percent increase over the previous record (2008), and the NAS Level I output is an 8.9 percent increase (2008).Data show the highest overall vehicle compliance rate — 80.4 percent — since 1996, and the highest overall driver compliance rate — 95.7 percent — ever. For NAS Level I inspections, the compliance rates of 77.8 percent (vehicles) and 96.1 percent (drivers) were both records for Roadcheck, and represented 7.1 and 20.4 percent improvements respectively over last year’s totals. In addition, safety belt violations were reduced in 2009 by 276 (1,246 to 970), a 22.2 percent improvement over last year. Inspections of passenger carrying vehicles resulted in a vehicle compliance rate of 88.5 percent and a driver compliance rate of 96.4percent, both improvements (5.7 percent for vehicles and 20 percent for drivers) over last year’s totals. There were 29,972 CVSA Decals issued to vehicles that passed the inspection.“The commercial motor vehicle industry is proving the old adage that it pays to be safe,” said Darren Christle, CVSA’s President. “If you look at the data it clearly shows when carriers prepare for safety they will benefit not only by avoiding fines but by saving lives. It can be said that Roadcheck 2009 saved 17 lives and helped to avoid 307 injuries. Over the course of an entire year that equals 2,068 lives saved and 37,352 injuries avoided. By any measure those are big numbers, and the enforcement community should be proud of its accomplishments in this regard.”"The positive results of this year's Roadcheck program reinforce the importance of federal, state and local enforcement partners working together to keep our roads safe and save lives," said FMCSA Acting Deputy Administrator Rose McMurray. "The data shows that on key measures of safety performance, such as driver and vehicle compliance with safety requirements and seat belt usage, the commercial motor carrier industry is demonstrating record improvements. FMCSA regards the annual CVSA Roadcheck invaluable as we together strive to ensure our highways and roads are safer for every traveler."CVSA sponsors Roadcheck each year with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), Transport Canada, and the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (Mexico).CVSA is an international not-for-profit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier safety officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Our mission is to promote commercial motor vehicle safety and security by providing leadership to enforcement, industry and policy makers. In addition, CVSA has several hundred associate members who are committed to helping the Alliance achieve its goals; uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections, and enforcement activities throughout North America by individuals dedicated to highway safety and security. For more on CVSA visit www.cvsa.org.# # #ROADCHECK 2009 FACT SHEETDriver results for the vehicle types were as follows:•All inspections: 95.6 percent of drivers passed, and 4.4 percent were placed out of service (5.3 percent were out of service in 2008).•All Level I inspections: 96.1 percent of drivers passed, and 3.9 percent were placed out of service (4.9 percent were out of service in 2008).•Hazmat: 97.0 percent of drivers passed, and 3.0 percent were placed out of service (2.4 percent were out of service in 2008).•Passenger carrying vehicles: 96.4 percent of drivers passed, and 3.6 percent were placed out of service (4.5 percent were out of service in 2008).Vehicle results were as follows:•All inspections: 80.4 percent of vehicles passed, and 19.6 percent were placed out of service (20.8 percent were out of service in 2008).•All Level 1 inspections: 77.8 percent of drivers passed, and 22.2 percent were placed out of service (23.9 percent were out of service in 2008).•Hazmat: 83.0 percent of vehicles passed the inspection, and 17.0 percent were placed out of service (17.6 percent were out of service in 2008).•Passenger carrying vehicles: 88.5 percent of vehicles passed the inspection, and 11.5 percent were placed out of service (12.2 percent were out of service in 2008).The specific violation percentage distributions from 2007-09 are shown below:

CSA 2010 has come to Minnesota & Montana

Courtesy of Minnesota Trucking Association

Minnesota and Montana are the first states who begin implementing the Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) 2010 initiative, on June 1st. The goal of CSA 2010 is to look for new ways to improve the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) ability to meet its goal of significantly reducing crashes, fatalities, and injuries involving large trucks and buses by:

Changing the way FMCSA monitors motor carriers and drivers (replaces many elements of SAFESTAT),
Making FMCSA's processes more efficient (i.e. current Compliance Review Program),
Expanding the enforcement and compliance reach in the regulated community.
There are four major elements to CSA 2010:

Measurement System - The measurement system will group the safety performance data of motor carriers and drivers into seven categories, called BASICs - Behavioral Analysis Safety Improvement Categories. The seven BASICs are:
(1) Unsafe Driving
(2) Fatigued Driving
(3) Driver Fitness
(4) Controlled Substances/Alcohol
(5) Vehicle Maintenance
(6) Improper Loading/Cargo
(7) Crash Indicator

Intervention - Once the measurement system signals the need to intervene, CSA 2010 will draw upon a broad array of progressive interventions that are designed to advise the motor carrier or driver that their safety performance has come to the government's attention. These steps are meant to improve unsafe behavior early.

Safety Evaluation - Safety fitness determination will be based on performance data processed through the measurement system and will not necessarily be tied to the current FMCSA compliance review. Each motor carrier or driver for which there is sufficient data will receive a safety fitness determination that would be updated every 30 days.

COMPASS - CSA 2010 is closely aligned with COMPASS, an FMCSA-wide initiative that is leveraging new technology to transform the way that FMCSA does business.

Motor carriers should take a look at their current CSMS results (BASIC scores) and a more detailed explanation of the system at http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/csi. You will need your PIN to access these Web sites. Information for obtaining a PIN can be found at https://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_registration.prc_option_decision and select "I want to request a copy of a document" or call 1-800-832-5660 for assistance.

You can also view a copy of the Methodology and Introduction to CSA 2010 here. Or a copy of the CSA listening session here.

Repeat Offenders - Beware of Maximum Penalties!

The FMCSA recently stated that it will be applying maximum penalties to repeat offenders caught violating the same regulations more the one time. In cases where acute violations are discovered during a compliance review, maximum penalties will be assessed if the same regs are violated within six years of a closed case that had the same regulations violated.

Below are some examples of past fines assessed against carriers at recent DOT Audits:
1) Using a driver after the driver tested positive on a drug test - $6,664
2) Failing to conduct the required employment background check - $3,776
3) Using a driver before receiving the results of pre-employment drug test - $2,760
4) Failing to implement a random drug/alcohol testing program - $1,580
5) Failing to conduct post accident testing on driver for controlled substances $1,780
6) Failing to do random drug tests at the required annual rate - $5,340
7) Allow a driver to Falsify records of duty status $1,540.00, per driver!
8) Failing to preserve supporting documents for 6 months $650.00

We can assume that these fines may double or triple with repeat violations!!


If you have concerns, or need help getting into compliance, give us a call!