For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Trucking Law<br />
formula and are also normalized by the<br />
time weight of relevant inspections. See<br />
Fed. Motor Carrier Safety Admin, U.S.<br />
Dep’t Transp., Safety Measurement System<br />
(SMS) Methodology, supra (explaining the<br />
SMS methodology and each calculation).<br />
<strong>The</strong> seventh and last BASIC differs from<br />
the other six, and technically, it is not a<br />
BASIC at all. <strong>The</strong> “crash indicator” measure<br />
is designed to track crash histories<br />
and high-crash patterns as identified in<br />
state- reported crash records. Each crash<br />
is weighted in severity from 1 to 3, with<br />
crashes involving injuries, fatalities, and<br />
hazardous material releases having greater<br />
weights. Crashes also are time weighted.<br />
Additionally, final scores for the “crash<br />
indicator” measure take a utilization factor<br />
into account, the same utilization factor<br />
applied to the “unsafe driving” BASIC.<br />
See Fed. Motor Carrier Safety Admin, U.S.<br />
Dep’t Transp., Safety Measurement System<br />
(SMS) Methodology, supra (explaining the<br />
SMS methodology and each calculation).<br />
To calculate the “crash indicator” measure,<br />
the total time- and severity- weighted<br />
applicable crashes are divided by a carrier’s<br />
average power units multiplied by a utilization<br />
factor.<br />
Safety Event Groups<br />
Once a carrier’s score for each BASIC is<br />
computed, the motor carrier is placed in a<br />
safety event group and assigned a percentile<br />
based on how it compares with other<br />
carriers in that safety event group. So a carrier<br />
belongs to seven safety event groups,<br />
each corresponding to one of the seven<br />
BASICs. <strong>The</strong> FMCSA may subject a motor<br />
carrier to an intervention based on the carrier’s<br />
percentile if it exceeds an applicable<br />
threshold. Table 2 presents the applicable<br />
percentile thresholds at which the FMCSA<br />
may intervene due to BASIC rankings.<br />
However, the SMS methodology applies<br />
certain “data sufficiency standards” before<br />
assigning a percentile rank to a motor carrier.<br />
In other words, a motor carrier won’t<br />
receive a percentile rank in a BASIC until<br />
74 ■ <strong>For</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Defense</strong> ■ <strong>December</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />
the SMS has sufficient data for the carrier<br />
in that BASIC. <strong>The</strong> “data sufficiency standards”<br />
differ for each BASIC but essentially<br />
require a minimum number of inspections<br />
within the previous two years. <strong>For</strong><br />
the “crash indicator” measure, for example,<br />
a motor carrier must have been involved in<br />
two Department of Transportation (DOT)<br />
reportable crashes before it will receive a<br />
percentile in that BASIC under the methodology.<br />
In the remaining BASICs, a motor<br />
carrier must have undergone a specific<br />
number of inspections that resulted in<br />
applicable violations for that specific BASIC<br />
before the methodology will calculate and<br />
assign a percentile.<br />
<strong>For</strong> example, in the “fatigued driving”<br />
and “unsafe driving” categories, a motor<br />
carrier must have three inspections resulting<br />
in applicable violations before it will<br />
receive a percentile rank in those BASICs.<br />
In the “driver fitness,” the “vehicle maintenance,”<br />
and the “cargo- related” BASICs,<br />
a motor carrier must have five inspections<br />
finding applicable violations. Lastly, in the<br />
“controlled substances/alcohol” BASIC, the<br />
percentile ranking methodology requires<br />
only one inspection finding an applicable<br />
violation before a motor carrier will<br />
receive a rank.<br />
<strong>The</strong> specific, final percentile that a motor<br />
carrier receives varies by the BASIC and the<br />
number of applicable violations found for<br />
the carrier within the BASIC. <strong>The</strong> SMS assigns<br />
a motor carrier to a safety event group<br />
for a BASIC according to the number of violations<br />
recorded in the SMS in that BASIC<br />
for the motor carrier. In other words, motor<br />
carriers assigned to a safety event group all<br />
have BASIC violations numbering within a<br />
particular range for that BASIC.<br />
In the “unsafe driving” BASIC, the number<br />
of inspections with unsafe driving violations<br />
depends on whether a motor carrier<br />
operates straight trucks or combination<br />
tractor- trailers. As mentioned, the methodology<br />
tries to compare like- vehicles with<br />
like- vehicles in some ways. <strong>The</strong> methodology<br />
similarly differentiates between the<br />
Table 2.<br />
Basic General Haz M Passenger<br />
Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving (HOS), Crash Indicator 65% 60% 50%<br />
Driver Fitness, Drugs/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance,<br />
Cargo-Related<br />
80% 75% 65%<br />
two vehicle types for the “crash indicator”<br />
measure. <strong>The</strong> safety event group to<br />
which the SMS assigns a motor carrier for<br />
the “crash indicator” measure obviously is<br />
determined by the number of DOT reportable<br />
crashes in which a carrier has been<br />
involved. Tables 3 and 4 list the safety event<br />
groupings, based on violation numbers, for<br />
motor carriers operating straight trucks in<br />
two categories, “unsafe driving” and “crash<br />
indicator.”<br />
Table 3. Unsafe Driving BASIC:<br />
Straight Segment<br />
Number of Inspections<br />
Safety Event with Unsafe Driving<br />
Group<br />
Violations<br />
Straight 1 3–4<br />
Straight 2 5–8<br />
Straight 3 9–18<br />
Straight 4 19–49<br />
Straight 5 50+<br />
Table 4. Crash Indicator: Straight Segment<br />
Safety Event<br />
Group Number of Crashes<br />
Straight 1 2<br />
Straight 2 3–4<br />
Straight 3 5–8<br />
Straight 4 9–26<br />
Straight 5 26<br />
In the “controlled substances/alcohol”<br />
BASIC, again the SMS methodology calculates<br />
percentiles after organizing carriers<br />
into safety event groups according to<br />
the number of on-road inspections finding<br />
controlled substances/alcohol violations, as<br />
specified in Table 5.<br />
Table 5. Controlled Substances/Alcohol<br />
BASIC Safety Event Groupings<br />
Number of Inspections<br />
with Controlled<br />
Safety Event Substances/Alcohol<br />
Group<br />
Violations<br />
1 1<br />
2 2<br />
3 3<br />
4 4+<br />
Table 6 explains the safety event groupings<br />
for the remaining BASICS, “fatigued<br />
driving,” “driver fitness,” “vehicle maintenance,”<br />
and “cargo- related,” again organiz-