The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is rolling out significant updates to its Safety Measurement System (SMS) in November 2024. These changes aim to enhance safety monitoring and create a more precise system for identifying high-risk carriers. Here's what you need to know about the major updates.
1. From BASICs to Compliance Categories
The FMCSA is rebranding its Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) as "compliance categories." This isn't just a name change – it comes with substantial reorganization of how violations are categorized and tracked.
Key Changes in Categories:
Controlled Substances/Alcohol violations are moving to the Unsafe Driving category
Vehicle Maintenance is being split into two distinct categories
All Operating while Out-of-Service (OOS) violations will now fall under Unsafe Driving
2. Vehicle Maintenance Split
One of the most significant changes is the division of Vehicle Maintenance into two separate categories:
Vehicle Maintenance: Driver Observed
Focuses on issues that drivers can reasonably spot during walk-around inspections
Covers violations typically found in Level 2 roadside inspections
Vehicle Maintenance (General)
Encompasses issues typically identified by mechanics
Includes violations found during full Level 1 inspections
3. Simplified Violation Severity Weights
The FMCSA is dramatically simplifying its violation severity scoring system:
Moving from a complex 1-10 scale to a straightforward two-value system
Violations will now be weighted either 1 or 2
Weight of 2 assigned to:
Out-of-Service violations (all categories except Unsafe Driving)
Driver Disqualifying violations (Unsafe Driving category only)
4. Smarter Violation Grouping
To prevent multiple citations for the same underlying issue, the FMCSA is:
Organizing 2,000+ violation codes into roughly 100 violation groups
Treating multiple violations within the same group during a single inspection as one violation
Focusing on identifying safety issues rather than counting individual citations
5. Updated Intervention Thresholds
The FMCSA is adjusting intervention thresholds to better target carriers with higher crash rates:
New Thresholds:
Driver Fitness:
General carriers: 90% (up from 80%)
Passenger carriers: 75% (up from 65%)
HM carriers: 85% (up from 75%)
Hazardous Materials: 90% (up from 80%) for all carrier types
6. Proportionate Percentiles
The new system introduces proportionate percentiles that:
Use exact inspection and crash numbers rather than broad group cutoffs
Allow for more gradual percentile changes month-to-month
Better reflect actual safety performance changes
7. Enhanced Recent Violation Focus
The FMCSA is implementing a 12-month rule:
Percentiles will only be calculated for categories with violations in the past 12 months
Applies to Hours of Service, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials, and Driver Fitness
Ensures focus remains on current safety issues
8. Expanded Utilization Factor
To better account for carrier exposure:
Utilization Factor coverage extended to 250,000 VMT per average Power Unit (up from 200,000)
Reflects more complete and timely VMT reporting from carriers
Provides more accurate measurement of carrier safety performance
9. Broader Segmentation
The new methodology extends carrier segmentation to more categories:
Hazardous Materials: Now separated into Cargo Tank and Non-Cargo Tank carriers
Driver Fitness: Divided between Straight and Combination carriers
Ensures fairer comparisons between similar operations
10. Continued Focus on Crash Preventability
The FMCSA will maintain its current approach to crash preventability:
Crashes determined "not preventable" will continue to be excluded from SMS calculations
"Not Preventable" determinations will still be noted in the Pre-Employment Screening Program
What This Means for Carriers
These changes represent a significant evolution in how the FMCSA evaluates carrier safety. The new system aims to be more precise, fair, and focused on current safety issues. Carriers should:
Review their safety programs in light of these changes
Pay special attention to driver-observable maintenance issues
Ensure timely resolution of safety violations
Monitor their performance under the new metrics
The updates demonstrate FMCSA's commitment to enhancing safety while responding to industry feedback. By focusing on recent violations and implementing more nuanced evaluation methods, the new system should provide a more accurate picture of carrier safety performance.
Commentaires