FMCSA considers revising safety fitness determinations
Over the summer, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration held three listening sessions to get feedback on how to determine a motor carrier’s safety fitness rating.
Safety fitness determination is currently based on an analysis of existing motor carrier data and data collected during a compliance review. The process uses six factors – general, driver, operational, vehicle, hazardous materials and crashes – to assign a motor carrier’s safety fitness rating.
The current system provides carriers an overall safety rating of either Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory.
In August 2023, FMCSA published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that asked for feedback on whether the process to determine a motor carrier’s safety fitness should be revised. Following the comment period, the agency decided it needed additional information before it could issue a formal proposal.
FMCSA held public listening sessions at the Texas Trucking Show on June 29 and online listening sessions on June 25 and July 31.
The agency took questions and comments from the public, asking commenters to focus on the effectiveness of the current three-tier system, a proposed single rating of Unfit, the use of inspection-based data and whether driver behavior should be incorporated.
Mike Cannistra of Logistic Dynamics said that a single rating of Unfit would “muddy the waters even more,” noting that about 90% of carriers operate without a rating.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said there are potential pros and cons to either maintaining the current three-tier system or eliminating it.
“As FMCSA pursues the development of a new methodology to determine when a motor carrier is unfit to operate, the agency must avoid relying on the Compliance, Safety, Accountability and Safety Measurement System programs,” OOIDA wrote in February comments signed by President Todd Spencer. “Since their inception in 2010, CSA/SMS have completely failed in their objective to reduce injuries, fatalities and crashes. This will not change until CSA/SMS incentivizes actual safety performance instead of regulatory compliance.”
According to the Department of Transportation’s latest regulatory agenda, FMCSA is projected to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in June 2025. LL