Bits & Pieces - Central Analysis Bureau

Volume 17, Edition 11

I hope you all getting ready to enjoy the first holiday of the season and take time to enjoy family. We here at CAB are thankful for you and for the new basketball game that was installed in the office. Come visit and play a game.

This month we report:

CSA SCORES – The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has joined the bandwagon calling for a withdrawal of CSA scores from public view. In August, 10 vehicle trade associations, including American Trucking Associations, petitioned the DOT to stop posting the scores for public view. We will follow this as it moves through a system and possible decisions are made on the release of the scores.

CARGO THEFT – A paper released by FreightWatch International reports last year truck cargo theft activity spiked in the final quarter of the year, with a total of 242 reported incidents. It points to the fact that driver theft has increased 76% over 2012 and a 389% over 2011. The report also states that driver complicit theft is typically a crime of opportunity, taking place either directly by the driver, the driver’s voluntary collusion or complicity in the crime, or a deceptive criminal posing as a legitimate carrier resource.

DRIVER HARRASSMENT – The FMCSA released a survey on the issues of driver harassment. Ten percent of truckers surveyed on the topic of electronic logging devices and driver harassment by motor carriers say their companies ask or force them to drive while fatigued, falsify their logs, and break other rules at least twice a month. The survey denies that these forms of harassment are tied to the use of e-logs. Approximately 19 percent of drivers said carriers asked them to meet unrealistic load schedules, while 19 percent said carriers interrupted their off-duty time by messaging them at least twice per month. A third of drivers considered it harassment when asked to drive while fatigued, falsify logs, or delay a break – while 20 percent of drivers considered it harassment if they were asked or forced to wait more than two hours at the docks without pay.

Volume 17, Edition 10

Happy Halloween. Here’s hoping you all get treats and not tricks.

CAB’s LABS – This month we released a few new and exciting features that will improve your ability to analyze radius and historical trends. On the Radius tab, you now have the option to modify the default date range of the inspections that are included in the all the radius analyses to see how things may have changed in this carrier’s operations over time. The second new feature is the ability to change the intervals and time frames used in the CAB-ISS and BASIC history trend graphs. Lastly, for those of you who enjoy working with the data, the full CAB-ISS and BASIC score history can be downloaded to Excel directly from the report. We will be hosting a CAB Focus session in November to cover how to use these new features. If you are interested in attending you may register by clicking here. In the meantime if you have any questions or if we can assist you please contact us.

This month we report:

INSURANCE LIMITS – The move to increase mandated insurance limits is underway and under attack. The FMCSA has fast-tracked what it has deemed a “high priority” rulemaking to increase the current minimum levels of liability insurance. The amount of the increase is currently unknown. The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking is currently under review by the OMB and should be released shortly. A group of eight associations are urging Congress to step in and “halt” the attempt. Section 425 of the Department of Transportation fiscal year 2015 appropriations contains a provision that would prohibit the agency from moving forward with increasing the required minimum level of liability insurance. Signing onto the letter are the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association; National School Transportation Association; United Motorcoach Association; American Bus Association; National Federation of Independent Businesses; Petroleum Marketers Association of America; American Truck Dealers; and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. There is also a move to repeal the self-insurance plan for motor carriers. President Obama’s Grow America Act — the four-year, $302 billion transportation plan— calls for repealing the government’s self-insurance program for carriers.