JUNE 18, 2019 – The House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2020 Department of Transportation funding bill earlier this month. The bill, which is now with the full House of Representatives for consideration, would provide funding for the DOT, along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other related agencies.
And if the current bill is passed into law, it will also make your Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) scores public again – likely by year’s end.
These scores were pulled from public view in 2015 while the FMCSA reevaluated how the scores were measured. The industry felt there were shortcomings that needed to be addressed in how these scores were calculated – with many unhappy that scores would be negatively impacted any time a citation was issued (even if the driver was found innocent) or an accident occurred (regardless of who was at fault). Carriers also found issue with the percentile ratings that compared them to other carriers – sometimes making them appear less safe than they actually were.
Since that time, the National Academies of Science has evaluated the current system and issued a report that would call for significant changes to the program and how its scores are calculated. Based on their recommendations, the FMCSA will be creating a new scoring model where carriers will be forgiven for small issues – such as a violation for forgetting a pre-trip inspection, for example. It will penalize carriers for multiple violations, however – especially when they occur across different compliance areas.
Regardless of whether or not CSA scores become public this year, the plan is for this new scoring methodology to begin in September 2019. We’ll continue to keep you updated as developments occur to ensure you’re ready for either (or both) of these significant changes.
Related Article: How Driver Turnover Impacts Your CSA Score