FMCSA’s plan to study effective safety endeavors open to public comment

The public will have until Sept. 17 to comment on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s plans to study the effectiveness of motor carriers’ safety technologies and programs.

A notice and request for comments about the study, which is one of the steps toward implementing the congressionally mandated Beyond Compliance program, published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Comments on the information collection request can be made here or by going to the Regulations.gov website and entering Docket No. FMCSA-2018-0328.

The 2015 FAST Act required FMCSA to implement the Beyond Compliance program to allow recognition, including an improved Safety Measurement System percentile for motor carriers that added advanced safety equipment and adopted certain safety programs.

FMCSA said the study is aimed at completing three objectives:

• Identify high-performing carriers in terms of safety performance.
• Determine the safety technologies, programs and policies employed by these carriers.
• Gauge the relative effectiveness of those safety technologies, programs and policies based on the expert opinion and performance metrics of the high-performing carriers.

The agency said the study will not attempt to conduct a full survey of the motor carrier population. Instead, it will take opinions from carriers with above-average safety records.

In addition to the carriers invited by FMCSA to participate in the survey, FMCSA said it will also reach out to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the National Association of Small Trucking Companies to invite them to voluntarily survey members as a supplemental data collection to the structured design.

OOIDA has been critical of the Beyond Compliance program, saying it would allow large fleets to receive better safety scores simply because they can afford the latest technology.