The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) regulations remained the same after CSA implementation in December 2010, though CSA does change how FMCSA prioritizes carriers for enforcement and how it enforces compliance. Generally, CSA affects carriers subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs), carriers transporting passengers or cargo in interstate commerce, and carriers of hazardous materials in intrastate commerce. CSA may also include carriers whose State requires that they obtain a U.S. DOT Number. FMCSA has provided detailed answers to questions about the general applicability of the FMCSRs. CSA will enact three major changes:

1. There is a new Safety Measurement System (SMS) that gives a more comprehensive profile of carriers and drivers, better pinpoints the source(s) of safety problems, and more effectively identifies high crash-risk behavior. It is important that all FMCSA stakeholders understand the new SMS. To better understand how SMS works, read the SMS Methodology, and this SMS factsheet.
2. There is a new interventions process as well as state-of-the-art tools that are more efficient and effective in the enforcement and compliance process. They institute a wider range of interventions to influence compliance earlier and match intervention to the corresponding level of safety performance. It is important that all FMCSA stakeholders understand this new interventions process. The interventions are outlined in this factsheet.
3. There is a proposed change to the Safety Fitness Determination (SFD). The proposed change will assess the safety performance of a larger segment of industry. Furthermore, it will be based on roadside performance and intervention results, and ratings will be updated more often in order to convey current safety conditions. Once the final rule is passed, it will be important for all FMCSA stakeholders to understand it. To read more on the new proposed SFD, refer to pages 53487-53488 of this rulemaking notice located on FMCSA's Website.

CSA has not changed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs), but it has changed how the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) operates in enforcing the FMCSRs. In the future, FMCSA will consider a new methodology for determining the safety fitness of motor carriers, which is currently accomplished through the safety rating process described in Appendix B of 49 CFR Part 385. Such potential changes will be carried out through formal notice and comment rulemaking procedures.

PSP is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration program mandated by Congress that is designed to assist the motor carrier industry in assessing individual operators' crash and serious safety violation history as a pre-employment condition. The program is voluntary and is not part of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

Motor carriers may request driver information for the purpose of pre-employment screening. The driver must provide written consent. Individual drivers may request their own driver information record at any time. The information will be retrieved from the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). Electronic profiles contain five years of crash data and three years of inspection data; however, MCMIS does not include conviction data. There is a fee for this service.

For a carrier to enroll in PSP, visit the enrollment page. For additional questions about PSP, visit the PSP Website's FAQs page or the PSP "Contact Us" page.

The DSMS is a component of the overall Safety Measurement System (SMS). The DSMS is a tool that enables enforcement personnel to assess individual drivers in the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories using 36 months of roadside performance data across employers.

State can do that. DSMS does not impact a driver's Commercial Driver's License. Neither drivers nor employing motor carriers nor the general public have access to the DSMS. FMCSA does not address drivers the same way it addresses carriers today, nor will it under the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. While carriers are prioritized for intervention based on the SMS, drivers are only investigated during a carrier investigation. Therefore, no Intervention Thresholds are in place for drivers.

The violations in DSMS are impacted by time severity; that is, more recent violations are weighted more heavily than older violations that occurred within the last year count three times, violations that occurred between one and two years ago count twice, and violations between two and three years old count only once.

The structure of the new SMS is such that the motor carrier’s role in the crash (i.e. preventability) is not automatically determined or considered. In fact, recordable crash reports that States submit to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) does not include the motor carrier’s role in the crash. Consequently, motor carriers are identified for possible intervention based on recordable crashes without consideration of the motor carrier’s role.

Why does FMCSA take this approach? This approach is taken because data analysis has historically shown that motor carriers who are involved in crashes, regardless of the motor carrier’s role, are likely to be involved in more future crashes than carriers who are not. Put simply, past crashes are a good predictor of future crashes.

The Crash Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category percentile ranking is excluded from public websites because FMCSA understands that some crashes are unpreventable on the part of the motor carrier.

FMCSA is assessing the feasibility of evaluating crashes to determine the motor carrier’s role in the crash (i.e. preventability) before they are used by the Safety Measurement System in the Crash Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category. This would allow FMCSA to better concentrate intervention efforts on motor carriers that have high preventable crash rates. More information on this research can be found here: http://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/CrashWeightingResearchPlan_7-2012.pdf.

A “clean inspection” is when a relevant roadside inspection did not result in any violations for a particular Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC). Safety inspections with no violations can improve a carrier's Safety Measurement System (SMS) results. For example, when a carrier has no BASIC violations related to the Hours-of-Service Compliance, Driver Fitness, and/or Controlled Substances/Alcohol BASICs from a Drive r Inspection (Level I, II, III or VI), this clean inspection will lower the associated BASIC measure. Similarly, when a carrier does not have any BASIC violations related to the Vehicle Maintenance and/or Hazardous Materials Compliance BASICs from a Vehicle Inspection (Level I, II, V or VI), this clean inspection will lower the associated BASIC measure. Roughly one-third of the 3.5 million inspections that are uploaded each year have zero violations.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has developed a specific mechanism to facilitate data reviews. Requests for data reviews (RDRs) can be made through the DataQs system, an electronic filing system that motor carriers, drivers, and the public use. The first step is to register either at the DataQs website (https://dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov/), or via the FMCSA Portal. Instructions for filing an RDR are provided, and include simple forms and the submission of information such as the report number, date, and time of the event, State, explanation, and supporting documentation, if needed. Once filed, the RDR and all relevant documentation are routed to the organization responsible for the data, and electronic correspondence is used to communicate with the requestor. The DataQs website is open to the public and offers an online help function to walk users through the process.

Please Note: A carrier can modify registration information (e.g., name, address, or Power Unit data) by updating the MCS-150 form.   

As a driver, you can take the following six actions to help successfully navigate CSA:

1. Make sure you understand and follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) safety rules and regulations. As a driver, you share safety responsibilities with your employing motor carrier in several areas. For example, you must make sure that your vehicle is in safe operating condition, that you are well-rested and sober when you drive, that you drive within speed limits, and that you follow Hours-of-Service rules. You can find web-based driving tips for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operators using CMV Web-Based Driving Tips.
2. Become knowledgeable about the new Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs), and how FMCSA will use them to assess safety. You can learn about the BASICs and the new Safety Measurement System (SMS) at the CSA Website.
3. Review your Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) record at http://www.psp.fmcsa.dot.gov and make sure that the information is accurate. If you find any data that is inaccurate, you can have it reviewed through FMCSA's DataQs program.
4. Keep copies of your inspection reports and review them to see where you can improve. You should know that CSA considers all roadside safety violations—not just out-of-service violations. Therefore, under CSA, all roadside inspection results are more important than ever to you, and your current and future employers.
5. Learn about your employer's safety record. Safety information on motor carriers is publicly available online through the SMS.
6. Visit the CSA Website. FMCSA continually updates the CSA Website with new information and materials. Here, you can find explanations, answers to questions, articles, factsheets, briefings, and more. You can also sign up for the email subscription service and RSS feed to get the most up-to-date information, and submit questions about the new program. Check out the CSA and drivers page.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's A Motor Carrier's Guide to Improving Highway Safety is designed to assist motor carriers in understanding and complying with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.

Receiving new inspections that are free of violations will improve a carrier's percentile rank for the Hours-of-Service Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, and Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance BASICs. Carriers should also review the “What can a motor carrier do to improve?” section of the SMS Information Center. This section provides tips that may help carriers who want to improve their safety performance. There are numerous tips that will help carriers improve their SMS percentile ranks and help drivers avoid crashes and violations. Additional information can be found at How to Improve Your Percentile Ranks.

FMCSA created a tool, the Safety Management Cycle (SMC).  The SMC helps carriers determine their organizational breakdowns that are causing the carriers' safety violations   Carriers can download an overview of the SMC here:  https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/FMC_CSA_12_002_SMC_Overview.pdf and download a list of safety improvement practices that help resolve typical carrier process breakdowns related to each of the BASICs here:  https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/About/SMC_Overview.aspx. 

The severity points for all violations used in the SMS can be found in Appendix A of theSMS Methodology and in this MS Excel spreadsheet.

The severity weights reflect the relative importance of each violation within each particular Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC). They cannot be compared meaningfully across the various BASICs. For example, a violation with a severity weight of 7 in the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC is not intended to be equivalent to a violation with a severity weight of 7 in the Driver Fitness BASIC. The violation severity weights are currently being reviewed based on feedback from stakeholders.

Roadside inspection reports contain all specific 392.2 local laws cited, but the Safety Measurement System (SMS) uses only 392.2 violations that translate with a specific letter suffix (i.e., 392.2C, 392.2S). If the violation is a 392.2 (with no letter suffix), then SMS does not use it. If it has a suffix and it is not listed in the tables below, SMS does not use it.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) invites all stakeholders to submit comments on the severity weights to the FMCSA Compliance, Safety, Accountability Docket. Instructions for comment submission are below. FMCSA plans to continuously improve SMS, making annual changes. Comments submitted to date have been reviewed and, where possible, suggested changes were tested for their impact on the SMS output. Also, severity weightings will be subject to formal public comment during the Safety Fitness Determination rulemaking. This public comment period will be announced with the publication of the rule. People can submit comments on this topic through any of the following methods and by referring to Federal Docket Management System Docket ID Number FMCSA-2004-18898:

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
   This is the link for Docket ID Number FMCSA-2004-18898: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480a4fe97
2. Mail: Docket Management Facility;
   U.S. Department of Transportation
   West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140
   1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
   Washington, DC 20590
3. Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation
   West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140
   1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
   Washington, DC 20590
   *May be delivered between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.
4. Fax: 1-202-493-2251

Each submission must include the Agency name, FMCSA, and the Docket Number referenced above. Please note that U.S. DOT posts all comments it receives without changes, including any personal information, to the following website: http://www.regulations.gov .

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has conducted effectiveness testing on the Unsafe Driving Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) Carrier Safety Measurement System (CSMS), as it is currently calculated using all recorded moving violations without regard to whether a citation was issued. Put in simple terms, the analysis demonstrates that there is a strong relationship between high scores in the Unsafe Driving BASIC, as derived by including all recorded moving violations, and future crashes. From a legal standpoint, the agency's use of warnings as one factor in the selection of an intervention does not constitute deprivation of a property interest for which a due process procedure is required. FMCSA has, however, as part of its attempt at further effectiveness analysis, reviewed the existing inspection data to determine if it is feasible to exclude recorded moving violations from consideration by the CSMS when a citation is not issued. At this time, it is not feasible. A free-form text field exists whereby an enforcement officer can enter whether a citation was issued. However, the completeness and accuracy of this field is not sufficient to employ in the CSMS at this time.

To address this issue, FMCSA is considering the addition of a simple Yes/No field to indicate whether a citation was issued in conjunction with the recorded speeding violation. Furthermore, based upon concerns expressed by the American Trucking Associations and motor carriers participating in our CSA Operational Model Test, FMCSA is implementing modifications to the roadside inspection software that its field staff and our State Partners use that will require roadside officers to designate the severity of speeding offenses recorded on roadside inspections. For example, the enforcement officer will have to designate whether the recorded speeding violation was 1 - 5 miles per hour (MPH) over the speed limit, 6 - 10 MPH over, etc. Moving forward, this will allow FMCSA to assign less weight to the less severe speeding violations in the CSMS.

A pre-inspection screening, which takes less time than an actual safety inspection, may take many forms. It may include, but not necessarily be limited to, a cursory check of the vehicle. These cursory checks are commonly confused with a complete safety inspection. If an enforcement officer conducts only a pre-inspection screening, then a safety inspection report will not be generated. It is also important to note that different enforcement jurisdictions may use different methods to select or screen a vehicle for a safety inspection. There are strict criteria regarding what needs to be done for a roadside inspection report to be generated. If the pre-screening doesn't meet those criteria, no report will be generated. Keep in mind that an inspection usually takes a lot longer than a pre-screening and involves much more intense scrutiny of the driver and/or the vehicle. A driver can request an inspection, but it is up to the roadside inspector to determine if he or she will give one or not.

The North American Standard Driver/Vehicle Inspection Levels are explained on here: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/safety-initiatives/mcsap/insplevels.htm .

Under CSA, the data collected at the roadside is more important than ever because it is used in the Safety Measurement System to assess carriers' safety performance. Thus, inspection and crash data that are reported to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) must meet high standards of uniformity, completeness, accuracy, and timeliness. FMCSA has organized its effort to improve data quality into four core initiatives:

1. Train inspectors on how to make consistent documentation of roadside inspection and violation data.
2. Standardize processes for challenging data by providing procedural guidance on the management of the roadside data challenge process through the DataQs system.
3. Increase awareness of high-level goals of the inspection program by communicating to inspectors about how good inspections can support a systematic enforcement program and informing industry about the differences between screenings and inspections.
4. Create a system to ensure that inspectors use a uniform inspection selection process.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration uses the SMS to:

• Identify motor carriers for interventions, such as warning letters, investigations, or roadside inspections.
• Determine the specific safety problems of the carrier to focus on during an intervention.
• Monitor motor carrier noncompliance issues over time.

The Safety Measurement System (SMS) is organized into seven BASICs, which represent behaviors that can lead to crashes. The BASICs were developed based on information from a number of studies that quantify the associations between violations and crash risk, as well as statistical analysis and input from enforcement subject matter experts.

The BASICs are defined as follows:

1. Unsafe Driving — Operation of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by drivers in a dangerous or careless manner. Example Violations: Speeding, reckless driving, improper lane change, and inattention. (FMCSR Parts 392 and 397)
2. Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance — Operation of CMVs by drivers who are ill, fatigued, or in noncompliance with the HOS regulations. This BASIC includes violations of regulations pertaining to logbooks as they relate to HOS requirements and the management of CMV driver fatigue. Example Violations: HOS, logbook, and operating a CMV while ill or fatigued. (FMCSR Parts 392 and 395)
3. Driver Fitness Operation of CMVs by drivers who are unfit to operate a CMV due to lack of training, experience, or medical qualifications. Example Violations: Failure to have a valid and appropriate commercial driver's license and being medically unqualified to operate a CMV. (FMCSR Parts 383 and 391)
4. Controlled Substances/Alcohol — Operation of CMVs by drivers who are impaired due to alcohol, illegal drugs, and misuse of prescription or over-the-counter medications. Example Violations: Use or possession of controlled substances/alcohol. (FMCSR Parts 382 and 392)
5. Vehicle Maintenance — Failure to properly maintain a CMV and prevent shifting loads. Example Violations: Brakes, lights, and other mechanical defects, improper load securement, and failure to make required repairs. (FMCSR Parts 392, 393, and 396)
6. Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance — Unsafe handling of hazardous materials (HM) on a CMV. Example violations: leaking containers, improper placarding, improperly packaged HM. (FMCSR Part 397 and U.S. DOT HM Regulations Parts 171, 172, 173, 177, 178, 179 & 180)
7. Crash Indicator — Histories or patterns of high crash involvement, including frequency and severity. It is based on information from State-reported crashes.

Safety information on carriers is publicly available online on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Analysis & Information Online website. Once drivers are on the website they should go to the search box in the middle right part of the screen and type in the U.S. DOT # or MC # of the carrier they are researching. To search for a carrier by name use the carrier search button near the top of the webpage.

The BASICs Overview categorizes the results for each of the seven BASICs.

The On-road column lists the motor carrier's percentile for each BASIC. If the percentile is over the established Intervention Threshold for the motor carrier, the percentile is presented with a symbol.

The Investigation column displays the “Serious Violation Found” icon for a BASIC if a Serious Violation was cited within 12 months of the Safety Measurement System (SMS) results date. The icon will be present regardless of whether corrective actions have occurred. Select this link to view the list of Serious Violations.

The BASICs Status column displays a symbol, if either the On-road column's percentile is over the established threshold or if the Investigation column displays the “Serious Violation Found” icon. This indicates that the BASIC is in a status and that the motor carrier may be prioritized for an investigation and a roadside inspection

Note that for general public users, the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance and Crash Indicator BASICs display the message “Not Public.” Motor carriers that log in to the SMS can view the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance and Crash Indicator BASICs, but only for their own U.S. DOT Number. Within the BASICs details pages, inspection and violation listings are available to all users, regardless of their logged-in status, but the measure, percentile, and other specifics of these two BASICs are available only to logged-in motor carriers.

Also, the Crash Indicator BASIC displays “Not Applicable” under the Investigation column because there are no violations associated with the Crash Indicator BASIC on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's list of Serious Violations.

BASIC Overview Panel

The details of each BASIC can be accessed by clicking on the BASIC's tab within the BASICs Overview. Note that a motor carrier's past performance can be accessed by selecting History.

To learn more about how to interpret the on-road and investigation columns click on the “What Does This Mean?” button.

The Safety Measurement System (SMS) calculates a measure for each Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) as described in the SMS Methodology document. The measure is then used to assign a ranking, or percentile, for each motor carrier that has information that could be compared against other similar carriers. This percentile ranking allows the safety behavior of a carrier to be compared with the safety behavior of carriers with similar operations and numbers of safety events.

The percentile is computed on a 0-100 scale, with 100 indicating the worst performance and 0 indicating the best performance. The carrier in the group with the highest measure will be at the 100th percentile, while the carrier with the lowest measure in the group will be at the 0 percentile. All other carriers in the group will be between these two numbers based on their compliance records.

Interventions are selected based on the following factors: number of Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) percentiles above the threshold (Note: a high BASIC percentile indicates high noncompliance), a symbol due to Serious Violations, commodity hauled (e.g., passengers, Hazardous Material (HM)), intervention history, and time since last intervention. A complaint or fatal crash could also trigger an investigation.

The Intervention Thresholds for carriers are organized by BASIC and are set based on a given BASIC's relationship to crash risk. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s analysis has shown that the strongest relationship to crash risk is found with high percentiles in the Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance and Crash Indicator BASICs. Therefore, these higher risk BASICs have a lower threshold for interventions than the other BASICs. Currently, the Intervention Thresholds are as follows:

Not having a percentile associated with a BASIC under the On-road Performance column may be a result of one of several situations. No Violations/No Crashes — The motor carrier has no violations or crashes within that BASIC. The following table outlines the different values displayed within the On-road Performance column for each BASIC:

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) intends to propose replacing the current safety rating process, which determines safety through a compliance review with a new Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) that will incorporate the Safety Measurement System results to determine safety fitness. The SFD Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be released in 2013. The SFD will need to go through the entire rulemaking process before it becomes law. Until the proposed SFD becomes final, FMCSA will continue to use the current safety rating process as outlined in 49 CFR Part 385. Current safety ratings can be found here: Safety and Fitness Electronic Records.

• February 2008 — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) launches a partial application of the CSA Operational Model Test (Op-Model Test) in Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, and New Jersey.
• 2009 — Five additional States join the CSA Op-Model Test group: Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, and Montana.
• April 12 - November 30, 2010 — Motor carriers can preview their own data by seeing their roadside inspections/violations and crash events organized by Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC).
• Summer 2010
  • June 30 — The Op-Model Test ends.
  • July — The four Test States partially applying the CSA Op-Model (Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, and New Jersey) fully switch over to CSA, bringing the total CSA Test States to nine.
  • August
    • The Safety Measurement System (SMS) Methodology is modified to increase its effectiveness.
    • Motor carriers can see an assessment of their violations based on the new motor carrier SMS, which replaces SafeStat later in 2010.
• December 2010
  • The SMS replaces SafeStat. The SMS is available to the public, including shippers and insurance companies.
  • The SMS Methodology is modified to increase its effectiveness.
  • FMCSA/States prioritize enforcement using the SMS.
  • FMCSA begins to issue warning letters to carriers with BASICs that exceed the threshold within their respective BASIC.
  • Roadside inspectors use the SMS results to identify carriers for inspection.
• 2011
  • Safety Fitness Determination Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is scheduled to be released.
  • Enforcement staff will be trained and new interventions will be implemented State-by-State.

Despite rumors to the contrary, no. While research was recently released stating that a driver's BMI is a risk factor for identifying sleep apnea, neither the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) nor the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program currently has any rules that restrict who can be a commercial motor vehicle driver based on BMI or weight, or neck size. For more information view FMCSA’s Spotlight on Sleep Apnea.

No. Tickets or warnings that drivers receive while operating their personal vehicles are State citations and do not count in SMS or PSP. SMS and PSP use only violations of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and those regulations apply only to people driving commercial motor vehicles. In measuring on-road safety performance, SMS and PSP use all safety-based violations documented at roadside inspections, as well as State-reported crashes.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is not certifying anyone's CSA training and is not tracking CSA seminars at the national level. However, the Agency recommends that you contact your local FMCSA Division to see if they are carrying out any training in your State. Their contact information can be found in this list of Field Operations, Service Center, and State-level motor carrier Division offices. You can also contact local trucking professional organizations since they often hold CSA seminars.

In addition, you can educate yourself about CSA by accessing these helpful online informational tools:

• CSA Resources Page
• CSA Frequently Asked Questions
• CSA Industry Briefing

Keep up with the latest information on CSA as it becomes available by signing up for the email subscription service or RSS feed and by periodically reviewing the CSA Website.

Most FMCSA questions that are unrelated to CSA can be answered either by FMCSA Headquarters at 1-800-832-5660 or by State FMCSA field offices.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has a complaint system set up to deal with carriers that are behaving illegally. To submit complaints, visit the National Consumer Complaint Database.