Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/85089
INNOVATORS TRANSPORTATION Chesterton, Ind. AREA would be included in CSA. "CSA was clearly going to be a game-changer," says Kevin Mullen, director of safety, human resources and re- cruiting. "To ignore it would be stupid." As a former motor carrier investigator in Massachu- setts, Mullen understands the inherent problems with commonly accepted driver pay structures. "As an investigator, I have seen the carnage that stems from commercial motor vehicle crashes, and I understand Paying for safety Flatbed hauler uses CSA performance to modify driver behavior BY JEFF CRISSEY A rea Transportation operates 300 trucks in a 200-mile radius, pri- marily moving aluminum and steel coils and plates to mills in the Midwest. As a flatbed hauler operating in a region where commercial vehicle law enforcement is stringent and unsafe driving violations are much higher than the national average, safety compliance is critical. The Chesterton, Ind.-based company – a division of ADS Logistics – has long maintained a safety-first mentality that is driven from the top down. Bill Ritter, president and chief executive officer, places a premium on safety and communicates it to managers, dispatchers and driv- ers at every opportunity. Several years ago when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration first released details about its Compliance Safety Accountability safety system, Area Transportation took notice. In 2008, the company modified its proprietary software system to monitor driver compliance against CSA's points- driven weighting system while still operating under the previous SafeStat measurement system. Area Transportation quickly noticed key differences between the outgoing SafeStat and CSA, primarily the number of non-Out-of-Service violations that Area Transportation rolls out new CSA- based pay structure to discourage company drivers from engaging in unsafe driving prac- tices and incentivize them to adhere to its new safety program. how law enforcement works to reduce those crashes and why CSA viola- tions carry the weight they do – that background makes me a better safety director, I hope," he says. "Anybody that has been in this business understands that the way over-the-road drivers get paid, whether it's by the mile or as a percentage of the load, it can create in- centives to exhibit behaviors that CSA tries to identify and discourage." Mullen says speeding and following too closely are two of the most common violations that result from a pay-per-mile rate and also are the two most likely to trigger traffic stops and inspections. "We operate in some heav- ily policed areas in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana," he says. "To reduce speeding viola- tions and other violations that result from being pulled over is to keep speeds under control and maintain safe following distances." In an effort to improve its CSA performance continually, Area COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | MARCH 2012 55