Proposal for Future Enhancements to the Safety Measurement System (SMS), 37037-37039 [2015-15907]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 124 / Monday, June 29, 2015 / Notices
James E. Campbell
Jeremy L. Elliott
Edward T. Errrichetto
Stefano U. Fabbri
Sebastian Fernandez
Phillp M. Green
Antone J. Heideman, Jr.
Eric J. Hidden
Jared B. Holt
Paul E. Irish, Jr.
Justin M. Jackson
Elias Lemus, Jr.
Thomas J. Manning
David B. McConnell
Timothy J. Miller
George Moore, Jr.
Elpidio Munoz, Jr.
Nicholas M. O’Rourke
William F. Potts
Michael L. Rouse
George E. Shores
Claude G. Stolp
James R. Taylor
Joseph M. Taylor
Joseph H. Varel
Finally, the following five applicants
perform transportation for the federal
government, state, or any political subdivision of the state.
Bryan A. Jenkins
Anton M. Maloblocki
Stuart P. Nichols
Lawrence K.W. Smith
James A. White, Jr.
Issued on: June 22, 2015.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2015–15862 Filed 6–26–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
[Docket No FMCSA–2015–0149]
Proposal for Future Enhancements to
the Safety Measurement System (SMS)
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice; request for public
comment.
AGENCY:
FMCSA provides notice and
seeks comments on proposed
enhancements to the Agency’s Safety
Measurement System (SMS)
methodology. Consistent with its prior
announcements, the Agency is
proposing changes to the SMS that are
the direct result of feedback from
stakeholders and the Agency’s ongoing
continuous improvement efforts. The
Agency is considering several changes
in this notice and is asking for comment
on these issues, and other possible areas
mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
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17:13 Jun 26, 2015
Jkt 235001
for consideration. This set of
enhancements would include changing
some of the SMS Intervention
Thresholds to better reflect the Behavior
Analysis and Safety Improvement
Categories’ (BASICs) correlation to crash
risk, other changes to the Hazardous
Materials (HM) Compliance BASIC,
reclassifying violations for operating
while out-of-service (OOS) to the Unsafe
Driving BASIC, and adjustments to the
Utilization Factor (UF). FMCSA will
provide a preview of the proposed
enhancements allowing motor carriers
to see their own data, enforcement to
see the data, and an opportunity for all
to comment prior to implementation.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before July 29, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
bearing the Federal Docket Management
System (FDMS) Docket ID FMCSA–
2015–0149 using any of the following
methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Docket Management Facility;
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590–0001.
• Hand Delivery or Courier: West
Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., ET, Monday through Friday,
except Federal Holidays.
• Fax: 1–202–493–2251.
Each submission must include the
Agency name and the docket number for
this notice. Note that DOT posts all
comments received without change to
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information included in a
comment. Please see the Privacy Act
heading below.
Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments, go to www.regulations.gov at
any time or visit Room W12–140 on the
ground level of the West Building, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington,
DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET,
Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. The on-line FDMS is available
24 hours each day, 365 days each year.
If you want acknowledgment that we
received your comments, please include
a self-addressed, stamped envelope or
postcard or print the acknowledgement
page that appears after submitting
comments on-line.
Privacy Act: In accordance with 5
U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments
from the public to better inform its
rulemaking process. DOT posts these
comments, without edit, including any
PO 00000
Frm 00077
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
37037
personal information the commenter
provides, to www.regulations.gov, as
described in the system of records
notice (DOT/ALL–14 FDMS), which can
be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy.
For
information concerning this notice,
contact Mr. David Yessen, Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration,
Compliance Division, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590,
Telephone 609–275–2606, E-Mail:
david.yessen@dot.gov. If you have
questions on viewing or submitting
material to the docket, contact Docket
Services, telephone (202) 366–9826.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The SMS
FMCSA first announced the
implementation of the SMS in the
Federal Register on April 9, 2010 (75 FR
18256) (Docket No. FMCSA–2004–
18898). Since December 2010, FMCSA
and its State partners have used SMS to
identify and prioritize motor carriers for
interventions, including automated
warning letters and investigations.
Additionally, SMS serves as a principal
factor in roadside inspection selection
software designed to recommend motor
carriers for inspections. The SMS also
provides the motor carrier industry,
consumers, and other safety
stakeholders with comprehensive safety
performance data for many carriers.
This information is updated monthly.
SMS is available at the public Web site
at https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS. FMCSA
announced improvements to the SMS in
March 2012 (77 FR 18298) (Docket No.
FMCSA–2012–0074), August 2012 (77
FR 52110) (Docket No. FMCSA–2004–
18898), and July 2014 (79 FR 43117)
(Docket No. FMCSA–2013–0392). As
stated in the March 2012 notice, FMCSA
plans to apply a systematic approach to
making improvements to SMS,
prioritizing, and releasing packages of
improvements as needed.
FMCSA convened a Continuous
Improvement Working Group (CIWG)
comprised of Federal and State
Enforcement personnel. This group used
their diverse experiences to identify
areas of needed improvement with SMS
and the Compliance, Safety,
Accountability interventions process.
The CIWG recommendations are under
review, and they informed the potential
enhancements outlined below.
List of Proposed Enhancements
FMCSA is proposing the following
enhancements:
E:\FR\FM\29JNN1.SGM
29JNN1
37038
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 124 / Monday, June 29, 2015 / Notices
1. Changing some of the SMS
Intervention Thresholds to better reflect
the BASICs’ correlation to crash risk.
2. Two changes to the HM
Compliance BASIC:
• Segmenting the HM Compliance
BASIC by cargo tank (CT) and non-CT
carriers; and
• Releasing motor carrier percentile
rankngs under the HM Compliance
BASIC to the public.
3. Reclassifying violations for
operating while OOS as under the
Unsafe Driving BASIC, rather than the
BASIC of the underlying OOS violation.
4. Increasing the maximum Vehicle
Miles Travelled (VMT) used in the UF
to more accurately reflect operations of
high-utilization carriers.
Proposed Changes to SMS Intervention
Thresholds
The Agency published its most recent
SMS Effectiveness Test at https://
csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/CSMS_
Effectiveness_Test_Final_Report.pdf.
After considering the results of this test
and other independent analyses,
FMCSA is proposing to make changes to
more closely align intervention
thresholds with each BASIC’s
correlation to crash risk. FMCSA
determined that lowering the Vehicle
Maintenance BASIC intervention
threshold to better reflect the
seriousness of the crash risk associated
with vehicle maintenance issues and
raising the intervention thresholds for
the Controlled Substances/Alcohol, HM
Compliance, and Driver Fitness BASICs
would more effectively prioritize motor
carriers.
As part of the SMS Effectiveness Test
analysis, FMCSA analyzed the
correlation of each BASIC with crash
risk and introduced three levels of crash
risk correlation:
• High: Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator,
Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance
• Medium: Vehicle Maintenance
• Low: Controlled Substances/Alcohol,
HM Compliance, and Driver Fitness
The following chart illustrates the crash
rates by BASIC, as demonstrated in the
SMS Effectiveness Test.
BASIC over threshold
Unsafe Driving .....................................................................................................................................
Crash Indicator ....................................................................................................................................
HOS Compliance .................................................................................................................................
Vehicle Maintenance ...........................................................................................................................
Controlled Substances/Alcohol ............................................................................................................
HM Compliance ...................................................................................................................................
Driver Fitness .......................................................................................................................................
After a thorough analysis of this
information and other available studies,
the Agency analyzed carriers over a
variety of intervention thresholds, and
compared those crash rates to the
national average. Based on that analysis,
the Agency is proposing to adjust the
intervention thresholds as shown in the
6.62
6.34
6.26
5.65
4.61
4.49
3.11
Current
intervention
thresholds
(%)
mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Unsafe Driving Crash Indicator HOS Compliance ..................................................................................................
Vehicle Maintenance ...............................................................................................................................................
Controlled Substances/Alcohol HM Compliance Driver Fitness .............................................................................
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17:13 Jun 26, 2015
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interstate carriers that are identified as
at or above intervention threshold in
any of the six BASICs (HM is excluded
as it is handled in a different analysis).
The effectiveness testing, which uses
historical data, showed under the
current thresholds that 39,454 carriers at
or above intervention thresolds had a
crash rate of 5.12 crashes per 100 Pus
and under the proposed thresholds
41,012 carriers at or above intervention
threshold had a crash rate of 5.49
crashes per 100 PUs. This is a 7%
increase in crash rate. A recent snapshot
of SMS data (Dec 2014) shows that
2,431 carriers are newly identified while
453 are no longer identified with any of
the six BASICs at or above the
intervention threshold.
PO 00000
Frm 00078
93
85
83
65
34
31
¥9
table below, to reflect the differences in
the crash correlations of each BASIC:
BASICS
The Agency notes that lowering the
Vehicle Maintenance BASIC
intervention threshold will identify a
new set of motor carriers to receive
warning letters so that they may address
non-compliance issues before crashes
occur. The changes would maintain the
current intervention thresholds of 65%
for the BASICs with the strongest
relationship to crash risk. While fewer
carriers will be identified for
interventions in those BASICs where
FMCSA proposes to raise the threshold
to 90%, a similar number of carriers will
be identified across all BASICs as under
the current intervention thresholds. In
addition, under the proposed changes
the carriers prioritized for interventions
will have a higher crash rate than the
carriers currently prioritized for
interventions. We examined the
% Increase in
crash rate
compared to
national average
(3.43)
Crash rate
(per 100 PUs)
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
65
80
80
Proposed
intervention
thresholds
(%)
65
75
90
Proposed HM Compliance BASIC
Changes
Industry and enforcement
stakeholders raised concerns to FMCSA
that large non-CT HM carriers have
difficulty improving in the HM
Compliance BASIC because they are
being unfairly compared to CT HM
carriers. Non-CT HM and CT HM
carriers have different operations and as
a result they often receive different
violations. After analyzing the issue
carefully, FMCSA determined that
segmenting the HM Compliance BASIC
by CT and non-CT carriers will address
this bias and improve the SMS’s ability
to identify HM carriers with serious
safety problems.
FMCSA studied the feasibility of
segmenting the HM Compliance BASIC
by business type and found that for
E:\FR\FM\29JNN1.SGM
29JNN1
37039
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 124 / Monday, June 29, 2015 / Notices
most motor carriers that operate CTs,
the CTs make up a majority of the
carrier’s inspections. A carrier was
categorized as a CT carrier if more than
50% of its inspections indicated the
vehicles were CTs, and for most that
percentage was actually much higher.
Analysis shows that there are a
sufficient number of carriers for both
segments in all safety event groups
(SEGs) for effective assessment. FMCSA
reviewed BASIC percentile changes
with segmentation and found that large
CT carriers would see an increase in
percentiles, while large non-CT carriers
would see a decrease. Small carriers,
both CT and non-CT, will not see a
change.
HM CARGO SEGMENTATION IMPACT
Current
BASIC %
SEG HM inspections
5–10 .................................................................................................................................
11–15 ...............................................................................................................................
16–40 ...............................................................................................................................
41–100 .............................................................................................................................
100+ .................................................................................................................................
With these changes, FMCSA is
confident that the data in the HM
Compliance BASIC appropriately
reflects the distinct operations of these
carriers. As a result, FMCSA proposes to
make the HM Compliance BASIC
information available to the public.
Violating Out-of-Service Orders
Currently, when a carrier is cited for
violating an OOS Order, these violations
are associated with the same BASIC as
the initial OOS violation. However, the
behavior of deciding to violate an OOS
Order is more closely related to a motor
carrier’s or driver’s safety judgment,
regardless of the underlying OOS
condition.
FMCSA reviewed these violations and
analyzed the potential impact of
reclassifying violations of an OOS Order
to the Unsafe Driving BASIC. The
Agency found that the crash rate of
carriers at or above the intervention
threshold in the Unsafe Driving BASIC
will remain the same under this
proposed change. Moreover,
consolidating these OOS violations in
the Unsafe Driving BASIC will help
enforcement and motor carriers better
identify and correct driver-related safety
issues. Therefore, FMCSA proposes to
move all violations of operating while
OOS to the Unsafe Driving BASIC.
mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Changing the Maximum Vehicle Miles
Travelled (VMT)
The Utilization Factor (UF) is an
analytical element determined by
dividing a motor carrier’s vehicle miles
traveled (VMT) by the number of power
units (PU) in the carrier’s fleet. The UF
provides a more accurate picture of a
carrier’s safety and compliance. The UF
is used in the Unsafe Driving BASIC and
Crash Indicator BASIC when a carrier
has a higher than normal utilization of
its vehicles (VMT per PU). The UF is
currently limited to 200,000 miles.
Industry stakeholders noted that the
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17:13 Jun 26, 2015
Jkt 235001
current UF is not accurate for some
companies with extremely high
utilization. Data reviewed by FMCSA
indicates that 200,000 miles may not be
the appropriate cap. Therefore, FMCSA
is examining allowing additional credit
to high-utilization carriers to provide a
more accurate picture of the carriers’
crash exposure and unsafe driving
behaviors.
FMCSA believes that extending the
UF to carriers with VMT per PU up to
250,000 miles, from the current level of
200,000, will allow for a better measure
of exposure for carriers with very high
utilization. During the preview, carriers
will be able to see the individual
impacts of this change.
FMCSA expects to begin a preview of
the proposed enhancements later in
2015. Information on the availability of
the preview will be made available on
the SMS Web site, and the Agency will
publish a subsequent Federal Register
notice. Prior to implementation, motor
carriers will be able to log in with their
Portal account or PINs to view their own
data and any proposed re-designed
formats. The general public will be able
to access simulated carrier data in order
to view the proposed enhancements.
During the preview period, FMCSA will
hold several public webinars to provide
stakeholders with detailed information
about the SMS methodology
enhancements.
II. Request for Comments
In advance of the SMS preview,
FMCSA requests comments on the
above enhancements to the SMS.
Commenters are requested to provide
supporting data wherever appropriate.
Issued on: June 22, 2015.
T.F. Scott Darling, III,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2015–15907 Filed 6–26–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P
PO 00000
Frm 00079
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
New BASIC
non-CT %
80
80
80
80
80
Same ................
Same ................
Same ................
71% (¥9%) ......
62% (¥18%) ....
New BASIC
CT %
Same.
Same.
Same.
85% (+5%).
90% (+10%).
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
[Docket No FMCSA–2013–0298]
National Implementation of the New
Entrant Safety Assurance Program’s
Off-Site Safety Audit Procedures
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
Notice.
FMCSA announces the
completion of its New Entrant Safety
Assurance Program Operational Test
(Operational Test) and the beginning of
the national implementation of the Offsite Safety Audit Procedures. The Offsite Safety Audit Procedures allow
FMCSA, and its Motor Carrier Safety
Assurance Program State partners (State
Partners), to complete an off-site audit
of an eligible new entrant motor carrier
whereby the new entrant motor carrier
can demonstrate basic safety
management controls by submitting
compliance documentation to a safety
auditor via electronic mail (email), fax,
or U.S. mail rather than being subject to
an on-site safety audit. FMCSA, working
with its respective State partners,
conducted an 18-month Operational
Test of the Off-Site Safety Audit
Procedures on new entrant motor
carriers domiciled in the following six
States: Alaska, California, Florida,
Illinois, Montana, and New York; and
the Canadian Provinces contiguous to
Montana and New York. The
Operational Test began July 15, 2013,
and concluded on December 31, 2014.
FMCSA will phase-in the
implementation of the Off-site Safety
Audit Procedures on new entrant motor
carriers in other states beginning in the
summer of 2015 and continuing over the
course of 36 months.
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\29JNN1.SGM
29JNN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 124 (Monday, June 29, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37037-37039]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-15907]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No FMCSA-2015-0149]
Proposal for Future Enhancements to the Safety Measurement System
(SMS)
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice; request for public comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: FMCSA provides notice and seeks comments on proposed
enhancements to the Agency's Safety Measurement System (SMS)
methodology. Consistent with its prior announcements, the Agency is
proposing changes to the SMS that are the direct result of feedback
from stakeholders and the Agency's ongoing continuous improvement
efforts. The Agency is considering several changes in this notice and
is asking for comment on these issues, and other possible areas for
consideration. This set of enhancements would include changing some of
the SMS Intervention Thresholds to better reflect the Behavior Analysis
and Safety Improvement Categories' (BASICs) correlation to crash risk,
other changes to the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance BASIC,
reclassifying violations for operating while out-of-service (OOS) to
the Unsafe Driving BASIC, and adjustments to the Utilization Factor
(UF). FMCSA will provide a preview of the proposed enhancements
allowing motor carriers to see their own data, enforcement to see the
data, and an opportunity for all to comment prior to implementation.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 29, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS) Docket ID FMCSA-2015-0149 using any of the
following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov.
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Each submission must include the Agency name and the docket number
for this notice. Note that DOT posts all comments received without
change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments, go to www.regulations.gov at any time or visit Room W12-140
on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. The on-line FDMS is available 24 hours each
day, 365 days each year. If you want acknowledgment that we received
your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or
postcard or print the acknowledgement page that appears after
submitting comments on-line.
Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits
comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT
posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information
the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the
system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at
www.dot.gov/privacy.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning this
notice, contact Mr. David Yessen, Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration, Compliance Division, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20590, Telephone 609-275-2606, E-Mail:
david.yessen@dot.gov. If you have questions on viewing or submitting
material to the docket, contact Docket Services, telephone (202) 366-
9826.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The SMS
FMCSA first announced the implementation of the SMS in the Federal
Register on April 9, 2010 (75 FR 18256) (Docket No. FMCSA-2004-18898).
Since December 2010, FMCSA and its State partners have used SMS to
identify and prioritize motor carriers for interventions, including
automated warning letters and investigations. Additionally, SMS serves
as a principal factor in roadside inspection selection software
designed to recommend motor carriers for inspections. The SMS also
provides the motor carrier industry, consumers, and other safety
stakeholders with comprehensive safety performance data for many
carriers. This information is updated monthly. SMS is available at the
public Web site at https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS. FMCSA announced
improvements to the SMS in March 2012 (77 FR 18298) (Docket No. FMCSA-
2012-0074), August 2012 (77 FR 52110) (Docket No. FMCSA-2004-18898),
and July 2014 (79 FR 43117) (Docket No. FMCSA-2013-0392). As stated in
the March 2012 notice, FMCSA plans to apply a systematic approach to
making improvements to SMS, prioritizing, and releasing packages of
improvements as needed.
FMCSA convened a Continuous Improvement Working Group (CIWG)
comprised of Federal and State Enforcement personnel. This group used
their diverse experiences to identify areas of needed improvement with
SMS and the Compliance, Safety, Accountability interventions process.
The CIWG recommendations are under review, and they informed the
potential enhancements outlined below.
List of Proposed Enhancements
FMCSA is proposing the following enhancements:
[[Page 37038]]
1. Changing some of the SMS Intervention Thresholds to better
reflect the BASICs' correlation to crash risk.
2. Two changes to the HM Compliance BASIC:
Segmenting the HM Compliance BASIC by cargo tank (CT) and
non-CT carriers; and
Releasing motor carrier percentile rankngs under the HM
Compliance BASIC to the public.
3. Reclassifying violations for operating while OOS as under the
Unsafe Driving BASIC, rather than the BASIC of the underlying OOS
violation.
4. Increasing the maximum Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) used in the
UF to more accurately reflect operations of high-utilization carriers.
Proposed Changes to SMS Intervention Thresholds
The Agency published its most recent SMS Effectiveness Test at
https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/CSMS_Effectiveness_Test_Final_Report.pdf. After considering the results
of this test and other independent analyses, FMCSA is proposing to make
changes to more closely align intervention thresholds with each BASIC's
correlation to crash risk. FMCSA determined that lowering the Vehicle
Maintenance BASIC intervention threshold to better reflect the
seriousness of the crash risk associated with vehicle maintenance
issues and raising the intervention thresholds for the Controlled
Substances/Alcohol, HM Compliance, and Driver Fitness BASICs would more
effectively prioritize motor carriers.
As part of the SMS Effectiveness Test analysis, FMCSA analyzed the
correlation of each BASIC with crash risk and introduced three levels
of crash risk correlation:
High: Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, Hours-of-Service (HOS)
Compliance
Medium: Vehicle Maintenance
Low: Controlled Substances/Alcohol, HM Compliance, and Driver
Fitness
The following chart illustrates the crash rates by BASIC, as
demonstrated in the SMS Effectiveness Test.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Increase in crash
Crash rate (per 100 rate compared to
BASIC over threshold PUs) national average
(3.43)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsafe Driving................ 6.62 93
Crash Indicator............... 6.34 85
HOS Compliance................ 6.26 83
Vehicle Maintenance........... 5.65 65
Controlled Substances/Alcohol. 4.61 34
HM Compliance................. 4.49 31
Driver Fitness................ 3.11 -9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a thorough analysis of this information and other available
studies, the Agency analyzed carriers over a variety of intervention
thresholds, and compared those crash rates to the national average.
Based on that analysis, the Agency is proposing to adjust the
intervention thresholds as shown in the table below, to reflect the
differences in the crash correlations of each BASIC:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Proposed
BASICS intervention intervention
thresholds (%) thresholds (%)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsafe Driving Crash Indicator HOS 65 65
Compliance.............................
Vehicle Maintenance..................... 80 75
Controlled Substances/Alcohol HM 80 90
Compliance Driver Fitness..............
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Agency notes that lowering the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC
intervention threshold will identify a new set of motor carriers to
receive warning letters so that they may address non-compliance issues
before crashes occur. The changes would maintain the current
intervention thresholds of 65% for the BASICs with the strongest
relationship to crash risk. While fewer carriers will be identified for
interventions in those BASICs where FMCSA proposes to raise the
threshold to 90%, a similar number of carriers will be identified
across all BASICs as under the current intervention thresholds. In
addition, under the proposed changes the carriers prioritized for
interventions will have a higher crash rate than the carriers currently
prioritized for interventions. We examined the interstate carriers that
are identified as at or above intervention threshold in any of the six
BASICs (HM is excluded as it is handled in a different analysis). The
effectiveness testing, which uses historical data, showed under the
current thresholds that 39,454 carriers at or above intervention
thresolds had a crash rate of 5.12 crashes per 100 Pus and under the
proposed thresholds 41,012 carriers at or above intervention threshold
had a crash rate of 5.49 crashes per 100 PUs. This is a 7% increase in
crash rate. A recent snapshot of SMS data (Dec 2014) shows that 2,431
carriers are newly identified while 453 are no longer identified with
any of the six BASICs at or above the intervention threshold.
Proposed HM Compliance BASIC Changes
Industry and enforcement stakeholders raised concerns to FMCSA that
large non-CT HM carriers have difficulty improving in the HM Compliance
BASIC because they are being unfairly compared to CT HM carriers. Non-
CT HM and CT HM carriers have different operations and as a result they
often receive different violations. After analyzing the issue
carefully, FMCSA determined that segmenting the HM Compliance BASIC by
CT and non-CT carriers will address this bias and improve the SMS's
ability to identify HM carriers with serious safety problems.
FMCSA studied the feasibility of segmenting the HM Compliance BASIC
by business type and found that for
[[Page 37039]]
most motor carriers that operate CTs, the CTs make up a majority of the
carrier's inspections. A carrier was categorized as a CT carrier if
more than 50% of its inspections indicated the vehicles were CTs, and
for most that percentage was actually much higher. Analysis shows that
there are a sufficient number of carriers for both segments in all
safety event groups (SEGs) for effective assessment. FMCSA reviewed
BASIC percentile changes with segmentation and found that large CT
carriers would see an increase in percentiles, while large non-CT
carriers would see a decrease. Small carriers, both CT and non-CT, will
not see a change.
HM Cargo Segmentation Impact
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SEG HM inspections Current BASIC % New BASIC non-CT % New BASIC CT %
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5-10............................... 80 Same....................... Same.
11-15.............................. 80 Same....................... Same.
16-40.............................. 80 Same....................... Same.
41-100............................. 80 71% (-9%).................. 85% (+5%).
100+............................... 80 62% (-18%)................. 90% (+10%).
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With these changes, FMCSA is confident that the data in the HM
Compliance BASIC appropriately reflects the distinct operations of
these carriers. As a result, FMCSA proposes to make the HM Compliance
BASIC information available to the public.
Violating Out-of-Service Orders
Currently, when a carrier is cited for violating an OOS Order,
these violations are associated with the same BASIC as the initial OOS
violation. However, the behavior of deciding to violate an OOS Order is
more closely related to a motor carrier's or driver's safety judgment,
regardless of the underlying OOS condition.
FMCSA reviewed these violations and analyzed the potential impact
of reclassifying violations of an OOS Order to the Unsafe Driving
BASIC. The Agency found that the crash rate of carriers at or above the
intervention threshold in the Unsafe Driving BASIC will remain the same
under this proposed change. Moreover, consolidating these OOS
violations in the Unsafe Driving BASIC will help enforcement and motor
carriers better identify and correct driver-related safety issues.
Therefore, FMCSA proposes to move all violations of operating while OOS
to the Unsafe Driving BASIC.
Changing the Maximum Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT)
The Utilization Factor (UF) is an analytical element determined by
dividing a motor carrier's vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by the number
of power units (PU) in the carrier's fleet. The UF provides a more
accurate picture of a carrier's safety and compliance. The UF is used
in the Unsafe Driving BASIC and Crash Indicator BASIC when a carrier
has a higher than normal utilization of its vehicles (VMT per PU). The
UF is currently limited to 200,000 miles. Industry stakeholders noted
that the current UF is not accurate for some companies with extremely
high utilization. Data reviewed by FMCSA indicates that 200,000 miles
may not be the appropriate cap. Therefore, FMCSA is examining allowing
additional credit to high-utilization carriers to provide a more
accurate picture of the carriers' crash exposure and unsafe driving
behaviors.
FMCSA believes that extending the UF to carriers with VMT per PU up
to 250,000 miles, from the current level of 200,000, will allow for a
better measure of exposure for carriers with very high utilization.
During the preview, carriers will be able to see the individual impacts
of this change.
FMCSA expects to begin a preview of the proposed enhancements later
in 2015. Information on the availability of the preview will be made
available on the SMS Web site, and the Agency will publish a subsequent
Federal Register notice. Prior to implementation, motor carriers will
be able to log in with their Portal account or PINs to view their own
data and any proposed re-designed formats. The general public will be
able to access simulated carrier data in order to view the proposed
enhancements. During the preview period, FMCSA will hold several public
webinars to provide stakeholders with detailed information about the
SMS methodology enhancements.
II. Request for Comments
In advance of the SMS preview, FMCSA requests comments on the above
enhancements to the SMS. Commenters are requested to provide supporting
data wherever appropriate.
Issued on: June 22, 2015.
T.F. Scott Darling, III,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2015-15907 Filed 6-26-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P
