Report on ASECTT Activities and Request for Support

Report on Activities

ASECTT has been active in a lobbying effort on the Hill over the past 9 months. View a summary of our activity which shows the headway which has been made in alerting Congress to the problems of SMS methodology and in blocking the rush to fund and approve SMS methodology before its systemic flaws can be reviewed.

Also provided are extensive comments which were filed yesterday in the Agency’s open docket (FMCSA-2012-0074) requesting expressions of concern on the proposed changes. The Argument portion of the filing sets forth the legal and factual basis for our opposition to SMS methodology and establishes the factual predicate for litigation in light of the Agency’s May 16th internet guidance to shippers and brokers suggesting that SMS methodology must be used.

In addition to the best legal research we can find on the topic, we have included three statistical reports (pgs 41-89), one by Wells Fargo, and two which were commissioned by ASECTT. Taken together, these three studies disprove the underlying basis for SMS methodology by showing that the Agency’s percentile ranking of carriers is not an accurate predictor of crash risk.

Finally, view Tom Sanderson’s July 2 letter to the membership.  It should be clear to all that the Agency, unless restricted by the courts, intends to “raise the safety bar” at all costs by deputizing the shipper and broker community with the responsibility of making self-enforced safety fitness determinations under penalty of vicarious liability.

As an ad hoc committee, we need your pledges of support to protect efficiency, competition and small businesses against this effective re-regulation of the industry without due process. Your pledges of support are needed to sustain our efforts at this crucial time.

Yours truly,
ASECTT Executive Board