CAB prepares as FMCSA proposes changes to safety measurements.

This week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) opened comments on proposed changes to its important Safety Measurement System (SMS) for commercial trucks and fleets. The SMS uses data from roadside inspections, crash reports, and investigations to identify and prioritize for intervention the motor carriers that pose the greatest risk to safety. The proposed changes would continue to use the same SMS data, adding enhancements to the methodology to better identify companies and fleets requiring intervention.

We at Central Analysis Bureau (CAB) are watching the proposed changes closely. We believe the proposed changes are evolutionary, not revolutionary, and fully support the FMCSA in its efforts to build a safer highway system. For those people familiar with the BASIC scores, the new methodology will feel familiar and may help simplify some of the more confusing aspects of the existing scores. We are actively evaluating the changes and their impact, and are assessing how they can be used to our clients’ advantage should they eventually be finalized and rolled out.

The 90-day comment period has just begun, and of course no one knows exactly what the final roll-out will be later this year. We are convinced that changes will be positive, and we will be able to quickly integrate the changes in the CAB Report®, CAB Express™ report, CAB BASICs Calculator™ and other data products as necessary.

And finally, we highly recommend you take a few minutes to read this article on CCJ explaining the proposed changes. You can also review the formal proposed change document and comment on proposed changes.