How Commercial Trucking Companies Can Impact Their CSA Scores

Roadside inspections are the main way motor carriers receive their safety scores from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). There are seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs): unsafe driving, crash indicator, vehicle maintenance, hours of service, drug and alcohol, hazmat, and finally, driver fitness.

An inspection with a violation in one of these BASICs can have a significant impact on motor carrier operations. Insurance companies look at these scores. Transportation brokers use these scores to choose who will haul their loads. Drivers look at the scores of the companies at which they consider working. Law enforcement uses these scores to determine whom they should pull over and inspect. Let’s look at each BASIC, how scores are determined, and what motor carriers can do if there is a violation that doesn’t belong to them or isn’t accurate.

UNSAFE DRIVING

Speeding, following too close, not wearing your seatbelt, lane change, etc. fall into this category. These are often completely preventable incidents, but they are behaviors very likely to cause an accident.

CRASH INDICATOR

These are crashes involving commercial motor vehicles that are recordable if they result in an injury or fatality, or if they require a vehicle to be towed from the crash scene. If the crash is not preventable, motor carriers have a way to challenge that!

vEHICLE MAINTENANCE

Is the truck roadworthy? Are the lights, brakes, tires, and everything in between working properly? This BASIC is the most likely to trip up motor carriers, as these are observable defects that law enforcement can see and hear.

hOURS OF SERVICE

Is the driver fatigued? Fatigued drivers can cause crashes. Does the driver understand the short haul exemption? Can they use an electronic logging device (ELD) properly? Do they have spare paper logs in case the ELD malfunctions?

DRUG AND ALCOHOL BASIC

Is the driver impaired? Have you completed FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse queries? Are the return-to-duty tests reported properly?

hAZMAT

Is the load properly placarded? Is the bill of lading (BOL) filled out properly? Has hazmat ground training been completed? Does the driver know what to do in case of a spill?

DRIVER FITNESS

This is not a question about how healthy your driver is; it measures whether the driver is properly credentialed to be in the truck they are driving. This includes whether the driver has a medical card, the number of motor vehicle record (MVR) pulls, and whether commercial driver licenses (CDL) are up to date.

Now that we understand the BASICS, how are scores calculated? Scores are time and severity weighted. The closer you are to the violation, the more it counts against your score. Severity weight is determined by how likely the violation is to cause a catastrophic crash. Time weights are 3, 2, and 1. Motor carriers keep the score for 24 months. Severity weights range from 1-10, 10 being the most severe. A seatbelt violation costs a motor carrier 21 points against their Unsafe Driving BASIC when the citation or warning is given. A warning counts the same as a ticket, so keep that in mind. The farther you move from the violation, the less it counts against your score. The only way to improve your CSA scores is time and clean inspections.