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.

Useful Facts from ATRI Survey

 Useful Facts from ATRI Survey

ATRI will soon release its survey of the status of SMS methodology.  From its presentation on the Nemo show the following useful conclusions could be gleaned.

A Call for Action to Shippers & Brokers

Please click here for a two page summary of advice which was released by the FMCSA on May 16.  This guidance repudiates the effectiveness of the Agency’s ultimate safety fitness determination required by statute.  Without rulemaking it raises SMS methodology to coequal status with the Agency’s fitness finding.  See https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/resources.aspx?locationid=115

Important article by Brent Primus "Logistics and the Law: CSA/SMS—Shippers, take action!"

See below for the article by Brent Primus for Logistics Management on the unintended effect of increasing shippers’ exposure to vicarious liability.
http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/logistics_and_the_law_csa_sms--_shippers_take_action

Why shippers should not use and should also oppose the CSA/SMS methodology

By: Tom Sanderson
The FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) scores were first made public in December 2010. Now that we have a full year’s worth of data, the flaws in the system are becoming obvious. The SMS data is incomplete, it grossly exaggerates the number and percentage of carriers that may have safety issues, and worst of all the SMS scores have no correlation with safety as measured by accidents per million miles. See Full Article on the following page.
Why Shippers Should Not Use And Should also oppose the CSA/SMS Methodology

Why CSA Is Not Fit For Shippers and Brokers To Use

Please see the attached edited transcription of a December 20, 2011 conference call hosted by Stifel Nicolaus, which featured Tom Sanderson, CEO of Transplace, a leading provider of transportation management services, and Henry Seaton, Esquire, partner in the Seaton & Husk law firm and member of the Association for Transportation Law, Logistics, and Policy.

Why CSA is Not Fit for Shippers and Brokers to Use - Conference Call Transcript 1.5.12

What shippers need to know about CSA and SMS

by Scott Michaelis
Southern States Cooperative, Inc.
Richmond, VA
http://asectt.blogspot.com/

CSA (Compliance, Safety and Accountability) was developed by the FMCSA as a replacement to the Safe Stat system. It is intended to reduce accidents caused by commercial trucks using a method of roadside inspections and progressive intervention. Using data from these inspections, carriers are measured against their peers and assigned a percentile ranking, or SMS (Safety Measurement System) score, in each of 7 BASIC safety categories.