The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced proposed changes to the Safety Measurement System (SMS) methodology to help improve the fairness, accuracy, and clarity of its prioritization system. Below is a brief overview of the proposed changes. More details can be found on the FMCSA’s website.
REORGANIZED BASICS
The BASICs would be called “safety categories.” Vehicle Maintenance (VM) would be divided into two safety categories: Vehicle Maintenance and VM: Driver Observed. Controlled Substances/Alcohol violations would no longer be in their own standalone category, but integrated into other safety categories.
REORGANIZED ROADSIDE VIOLATIONS
Roadside violations would be reorganized into 116 violation groups of similar safety behaviors to prevent inconsistencies that occur when multiple violations are cited for a single or very similar underlying issue.
SIMPLIFIED SEVERITY WEIGHTS
The new methodology would replace the “1-10” weighting scale for violations in SMS with a two-value scale: a severity weight of either 1 or 2.
IMPROVED INTERVENTION THRESHOLDS
The new methodology would adjust the intervention thresholds in the Driver Fitness and Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance safety categories.
PROPORTIONATE PERCENTILES
The proposed percentile changes would improve FMCSA’s ability to compare carriers with similar carriers. This change would better indicate how a carrier’s performance is trending from month to month.
GREATER FOCUS ON RECENT VIOLATIONS
A motor carrier with violations in a safety category that are all 12 months or older would not be assigned a percentile and would not be prioritized in that category based on roadside inspection data alone.
UPDATED UTILIZATION FACTOR
The new methodology would extend the Utilization Factor to carriers that drive up to 250,000 vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per average power unit. This change would more accurately account for the on-road exposure of motor carriers with the most VMT per vehicle.
NEW SEGMENTATION
The prior SMS segmentation would remain. However, the HM Compliance and Driver Fitness safety categories would have additional segmentation pertaining to cargo tanks and straight and combination carriers.
CALL TO ACTION
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Train operations staff on the proposed SMS changes and on the way they impact operations.
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Ensure drivers and mechanics know the importance of proper vehicle inspections and repairs.
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Conduct crash prevention training with all staff.
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Measure factors like severe violations, crashes, and other metrics; and take corrective action.
Note: These lists are not intended to be all-inclusive
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