Interest in FMCSA’s carrier measurement system is strong, agency reports
Posted March 10, 2011
More and more motor carriers are beginning to access the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) new safety scoring system, the agency reports.
The FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) website had 5 million visits in the first six weeks after it was launched, with thousands of carriers logging in to see their data, the agency says.
The SMS is part of the agency’s new Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) enforcement program, which officially launched on December 12, 2010. The SMS replaced the FMCSA’s previous motor carrier measurement tool known as SafeStat.
At the FMCSA’s “A&I Online” website, motor carriers can log in to review their safety performance in seven compliance categories known as the BASICs. Carriers whose performance is significantly worse than their peers may face an “intervention” in the form of a warning letter, increased inspections, an audit, and/or other enforcement options. In addition, scores on five of the BASICs are made available to the public.
According to the FMCSA, in the first six weeks after the SMS launched:
- The A&I Online website experienced more than 5 million “hits.”
- Nearly 11,000 unique carriers logged in (four times the volume from the previous six weeks) on almost 40,000 occasions (six times the number from the prior six-week period) to view their safety data.
- The CSA “Question and Answer” tool, where anyone can directly ask questions by phone or through an online form, experienced a sustained, significant increase in the volume of questions, and FMCSA Division Offices across the country reported a similar increase.
The agency says some of the most frequently asked questions relate to how often the SMS scores are updated, which is monthly.
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