SMS Website Enhancements

Critics of SMS Methodology and its publication for use by "stakeholders" have reason to be concerned about the Agency's recently announced "enhancements." The public, shippers and brokers including plaintiff's bar, with a click of the mouse will be able to see a listing of all carriers with better percentile rankings than their preferred carrier vendor in each of the BASICs.  In furthermore of Plaintiff's Bar's argument that the consumer must second guess the Agency's ultimate safety fitness determination, this enhancement will make it all the easier for Plaintiff's Bar to argue that a shipper or broker was negligent in not selecting the safest carrier available based upon the Agency's readily available listing of all competitors by percentile rankings and peer groups.

“The Culture of Safety”

In 1935, Congress appointed federal regulators to police and oversee interstate truckers. USDOT and the ICC before it was charged with the sole preempted duty of policing the industry, certifying operators of commercial motor vehicles as safe to operate on the nation's roadway and finding and placing out of service unsafe operators. The beneficiaries of interstate regulations were the traveling and shipping public. A carrier found safe to operate on the nation's roadway was safe to use.

Is the Agency Changing Course on CSA? Not Likely

Is the Agency Changing Course on CSA?  Not Likely

Report on MCSAC Meeting - June 18, 2013

In earlier emails, we have called your attention to a series of articles published in CCJ which are critical of SMS methodology and one which recently acknowledged our lawsuit and the importance of the publication of SMS percentile rankings in the vicarious liability/negligent selection debate.  We posed for discussion the question of whether the agency was changing its policies in anticipation of oral argument, by suggesting that its future rulemaking on safety fitness determinations would be based upon objective rather than relative percentile rankings.  We also took note of recent FMCSA announcements indicating that it would change its CSA website this summer, supposedly to clarify that SMS scores are not safety ratings and should not be viewed as such.

ASECTT Newsletter March 15, 2013

ASECTT Newsletter

March 15, 2013

1.         ASECTT et al. v. FMCSA. 

All briefs have been filed and we are awaiting scheduling of oral argument.  To view copies of these pleadings, see http://www.asectt.blogspot.com/p/asectt-et-al-v-fmcsa.html.

2.         Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee and Parker Committee Update.  

FROM REGULATOR TO GAME MASTER

In issuing its guidance to shippers, brokers and carriers on May 16th, the FMCSA changed its role from a regulator to a game master.  No longer does it determine who is safe to operate on the nation’s roadways under objective criteria as required by statute and regulation.  Instead, it has set up an intricate game of Dancing With The Stars in which it functions as the “expert” assigning points to the remaining contestants.

"SMS BASIC Scores are Not Valid Predictors of Crash Frequency" by Inam Iyoob, PhD Director of Engineering, Transplace

View and download the pdf version here.

SMS BASIC Scores are Not Valid Predictors of Crash Frequency Inam Iyoob, PhD Director of Engineering, Transplace I am the Director of Engineering for Transplace and am a data analyst and mathematical expert with a PhD in Engineering from the University of Arkansas and a Masters in Engineering degree from Oklahoma State University. I have 12 years of work experience with Transplace.