The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced that it has held a series of forums with trucking industry stakeholders to evaluate the agency's current safety compliance and enforcement programs.
FMCSA said the outcome of the agency-sponsored meetings will serve to establish an operational model to audit carriers' safety, which would ultimately contribute to its goal of reducing truck-related fatalities to no more than 1.65 per 100-million truck miles.
In the forums, trucking companies, insurance companies, trucking-related associations, and law enforcement officials — among the most active participants — emphasized issues such as safety incentives, consistent motor carrier regulations across states and carrier types, uniform screening for safe drivers, compliance reviews and quality SafeStat data.
FMCSA noted that there was “dissonance” on the effectiveness of Compliance Reviews (CR), as some believed the agency needs to educate carriers on how to be safer while staying profitable. “Participants were in agreement the CR is too often reactive and punitive,” noted FMCSA.