Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/100783
JOURNAL LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS CSA scoring, violation severity weights change Beware: New California exhaust regs now in effect FMCSA addresses drivers���, carriers��� concerns about inequities T be no more speeding violations in the 1-5 mph range over the limit, and if no specific miles-per-hour over the limit is listed, the violation will be given the lowest (1 point) severity weighting covering speeding warnings often utilized in probable-cause states as reasons to pull over and inspect a truck. Improper securement violations now will appear as part of carriers��� Vehicle Maintenance BASIC measures, and in place of the former Cargo-Related BASIC, FMCSA is leaving only hazmat-related violations and calling the category the Hazmat BASIC. The severity weights of many securement violations, in turn, have been reduced. FMCSA has been vocal about scores in the new hazmat category not exhibiting a strong correlation to carrier crash risk but has justified the change by noting the bias the former Cargo-Related BASIC had on open-deck carriers, who were overrepresented there. The violations that remain as contributors to carriers��� scores in the Hazmat BASIC are largely related to placarding errors. It is possible, too, for a carrier not subject to the lower BASIC intervention thresholds specified for hazmat carriers to register a percentile ranking in the Hazmat BASIC. FMCSA has agreed to keep the Hazmat BASIC numbers hidden from public view, just as the Cargo-related BASIC has been, for a year as these and other potential anomalies are addressed. ��� Todd Dills The system will specify safety- or nonsafety-related suspensions. he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Dec. 3 that the long-awaited update to the Compliance Safety Accountability program���s categories and violation severity weights, among other changes, went into effect during the weekend of Dec. 1. Changes addressing drivers��� and carriers��� long-held concerns about inequities and problems in the system include a new distinction in a violation in the Driver Fitness Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) ��� driving while disqualified. The system now will be able to account for whether the suspension was due to a safety- or nonsafety-related reason. Nonsafety-related suspensions, such as the often-remarked-upon situation of a driver behind on child-support payments, will receive a lower severity weight in the BASIC. Various changes to speeding violation weights also will occur and will be retroactive over the two years of carrier inspection histories included in public Safety Measurement System rankings. There will C alifornia officials started the new year by enforcing a new truck regulation with substantial penalties for violators. Starting Jan. 1, owners of trucks weighing more than 26,000 pounds with 2000-2004 model year engines must have installed verified soot filters or have upgraded to newer vehicles. This California Air Resources Board Truck and Bus regulation has noncompliance penalties starting at $1,000 per violation. Additionally, the state���s Department of Motor Vehicles can place a registration block on a noncompliant truck and/or the California Highway Patrol can impound it. Penalties will increase significantly with time, the board stated. Owners of three or fewer trucks can delay compliance until 2014 by reporting truck information to the board under the rule���s small fleet option. Also, filter installation can take more than a month to accomplish, but owners who have not had it installed by Jan. 1 can reduce penalties significantly by taking action as soon as possible, the board stated. The new regulation applies to trucks operating in California, regardless of where they���re registered. After similar requirements became effective last year for 1996-1999 model year engines, state officials assessed nearly $2 million in fines during the first nine months of 2012. CARB inspectors will check compliance at random roadside locations, truckstops, fleet facilities and distribution centers, and also perform electronic fleet audits. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JANUARY 2013 7