point counterpoint van steenburg ccj spring 2015

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Commercial Carrier JournalSpring Symposium

May 19, 2015

FMCSA Regulatory Update

Jack Van SteenburgAssistant Administrator And Chief Safety Officer

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Our MissionPlacing safety as

our highest priority:Prevent crashes, injuries, and

fatalities involving CMV transportation through education, innovation,

regulation, enforcement, financial assistance,

partnerships, andfull accountability

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The Problem – Exploring Facts

Large trucks and buses represent:

• 4.5% of the registered vehicles in U.S.

• 10% of the vehicle miles traveled

• 11.8% of the crashes

• 12.1% of the traffic fatalities

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Large Truck and Bus Crash Data

In 2013, 3,806 crashes involving a large truck or bus claimed 4,251 lives lost

739 of those lives lost were large truck or bus occupants

3,512 of those lives lost were occupants of either a passenger vehicle, rider of a motorcycle or a bicycle or were a pedestrian

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CSA Safety Benefits• Identifies high risk carriers for intervention.• SMS BASIC effectively identifies carriers

more likely to be involved in crashes.• Assesses nearly 200,000 carriers that

account for 92% of reportable crashes, and 80% of CMVs.

• Reaches more carriers, earlier; 86,000 warning letters sent since CSA rollout.

• Annual roadside inspection violation rates have dropped 15% since CSA rollout.

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SMS Display Page

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CSA Future Enhancements

• HM BASIC• Exposure• Driver Fitness Threshold• Unsafe Driving – OOS operations• Crash Weighting

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Safety Fitness Determination

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• Working to publish NPRM. • Propose expanding use of roadside

inspection data -- in addition to findings from investigations – to determine a safety fitness rating.

• Assess the safety fitness of a larger number of motor carriers on a monthly basis.

• Absolute score vs. relative score.• Assures an objective adjudication process.

Hours of Service• A naturalistic study comparing impacts of

restart provisions before and after July 1, 2013.

• Drivers from fleets of all sizes, operations, and industry sectors.

• Led by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and leading experts on fatigue.

• OIG oversight and independent peer review.

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Electronic Logging Devices

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Final Rule to be published in 2015. Benefits include: • Cut paperwork and save money• Easier to review driver hours-of-service

(HOS) records• Protect drivers from harassment • By improving hours of service compliance,

ELDs are estimated to prevent about 20 fatalities and over 400 injuries each year.

Coercion Rule

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Working to publish a Coercion Final Rule later this year. • Prohibit carriers, shippers, receivers and

transportation intermediaries from pressuring drivers into violating FMCSA regulations.

• Includes procedures for reporting incidents of coercion.

• Sets rules of practice FMCSA to handle allegations.

Other Regulatory Matters

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• Entry Level Driver Training.• Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.• National Registry of Certified Medical

Examiners• Financial Responsibility

Thinking Outside the Box

• Driver Recognition– ATA has helped champion this initiative– The poster will hang at USDOT HQ.

• Beyond Compliance– What are the technologies?– What are the incentives to carriers?– How to monitor compliance?

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Our Vision

Save lives by striving toward a

crash-free and fully accountable

CMV transportation life-cycle

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www.fmcsa.dot.gov

john.vansteenburg@dot.gov

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