The following article was released today by the FMCSA, in regard to the CSA program:
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today announced several new improvements to its Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) enforcement program that will enable it to more quickly identify and address high-risk truck and bus companies with compliance concerns.
"Good data plays a key role in keeping our nation's roads safe," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "These improvements will enable us to better identify and address unsafe truck and bus companies before tragedies occur."
The final CSA changes will provide FMCSA with more precise information when assessing a company's over-the-road safety performance. The changes will be implemented in December 2012 and include:
"CSA is raising the bar for truck and bus safety. Our preliminary data shows that fatalities involving commercial vehicles dropped 4.7 percent last year compared to 2010," said FMCSA Administrator Ferro. "Still, on average, nearly 4,000 people die in large truck and bus crashes each year. That is why we are implementing these important changes to make CSA even more effective."
FMCSA provided a four-month preview period to ensure the public had multiple opportunities to review and comment on the proposed changes to CSA's online Safety Measurement System. Overall, 14,000 carriers and 1,700 law enforcement personnel participated in the public preview. The Federal Register Notice issued today responds to the comments received as of July 30, 2012, regarding the preview of the updates to the system.
Today's CSA enhancements are part of FMCSA's continuous work to strengthen its safety enforcement tools. To support this effort and provide ongoing feedback, FMCSA's Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) will consider establishing a CSA subcommittee at its next meeting on August 27-29, 2012.
For complete details on the new CSA improvements, go to http://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/.