Thursday, September 16, 2010

CSA Spotlight - BASICS: Driver Fatigue, Driver Fitness & Vehicle Maintenance


CSA 2010 implementation is fast approaching!

CSA 2010 is the FMCSA’s Comprehensive Safety Analysis System; its purpose is to achieve a greater reduction in large truck and bus crashes, injuries, and fatalities in the United States by identifying individual drivers and motor carrier companies that pose safety problems and intervening to address those problems as soon as they become apparent.

Within the CSA model, the Safety Measurement System (SMS) quantifies the on-road safety performance of carriers and drivers. The SMS replaces the FMCSA SafeStat in the new operational model. Every month, SMS will measure the previous two years of roadside violation and crash data and calculate a score in 7 safety behavior areas, called the BASICs (Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories). In this issue of The Road Ahead, we focus on 3 that we believe to be the most crucial aspects of the system that both Carriers and Customers should be aware of:

1. Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service): This component of the BASICs measures the operation of CMVs (Commercial Motor Vehicle) by drivers who are ill, fatigued, or in non-compliance with the Hours-of-Service regulations. It includes violations of regulations pertaining to complete and accurate recording of logbooks as they relate to HOS requirements and the management of CMV driver fatigue. Examples of violations under this component are: HOS non-compliance, logbook violations, and operating a CMV while ill or fatigued.

2. Driver Fitness: This component of the BASICs evaluates the operation of CMVs by drivers who are unfit to operate a CMV due to a lack of training, experience or medical qualifications. Examples of violations under this component are: failure to have a valid and appropriate commercial driver’s license and being medically unqualified to operate a CMV.

3. Vehicle Maintenance: This component of the BASICs measures the failure to properly maintain a CMV. Example violations under this component are: faulty brakes and lights, other mechanical defects, and failure to make required repairs and scheduled maintenance.

In the case where measurement of the BASICs leads to determination of unfit operations, drivers and carrier companies will face suspension.

It will become more and more important for UWC’s Carrier Partners to strictly adhere to all of the BASICs, especially the 3 listed above, as the implications for non-compliance are severe.
For more information, please visit the CSA website at: http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov/.

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