FMCSA Unveils CSA App: ATA Not Happy

on Tuesday, 17 March 2015.

The FMCSA has released a new smartphone application-- dubbed "QCMobile"-- designed to provide easier access to its online safety performance data on bus and interstate truck companies.

The purpose of the new application is to provide law enforcement officials, freight brokers, and insurers with an easier method of reviewing motor carriers' USDOT registration and safety ratings. The FMCSA has stated that its goal with the new application is to increase transparency while making safety information easily accessible to travelers.

The app's name stands for "Query Central" and its data is pulled directly from the FMCSA. The app combines the data provided by the FMCSA into an easily readable summary. Other carrier data-- such as their Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories-- are also available via the application.

The ATA has weighed in on the launch of the application, calling it "recklessness cloaking itself as transparency" due to the ATA's stance that CSA safety scores are currently "unreliable and imprecise." ATA spokesman Sean McNally went a step beyond criticizing the new application by asking the public not to download QCMobile, stating: "We urge the public not to use this app given the serious flaws in CSA that have been identified by GAO and others."

If you haven't read our stance on the US House bill that proposes to remove CSA scores from public view, we encourage you to do so. It appears as the new application is yet another way of disseminating incorrect information to the public. We side with the ATA's stance on the unveiling of the QCMobile application-- the FMCSA should correct its unreliable CSA scoring practices before publicly promoting an application that doesn't tell the whole story about carriers' safety data.

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