FMCSA to Review Crash Preventability Determination Program

When a four-wheel driver decides to do a brake check on a big rig just for fun, and it leads to something catastrophic, it does not impact the carrier’s ranking in the CSA Safety Measurement System. This is because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) only wants to penalize drivers who find themselves in preventable crashes, not those hampered by circumstance. The FMCSA has found that 96% of eligible crashes submitted to its DataQs system were deemed unpreventable, and the FMCSA is planning on expanding the program to track more types of crashes.

Details

On April 13th the FMCSA published in the Federal Register its plans to expand the DataQs program from considering 16 different types of crashes to 20, while also revamping the definition of eleven of those 16 crashes. Of the eleven changes, eight involve fault with another driver, one involves debris on the road, and one involves infrastructure failure. The last is for crashes involving non-motorists, which would create a new category of crashes that the FMCSA can isolate and research for potential solutions to reduce its count.

As for the expansion to twenty definitions? Here are the proposed four additional crashes listed:

• Struck on the side by a motorist operating in the same direction.
• Struck because another motorist was entering the roadway from a private driveway or parking lot.
• Struck because another motorist lost control of their vehicle.
• Any other type of crash involving a CMV where a video demonstrates the sequence of events of the crash.

Conclusion

All of this means that trucking fleets will have better opportunities to make their case as to why an accident should not count against their CSA Safety Measurement System score. Truckers that are responsible drivers will find themselves less culpable in scenarios where other drivers are at fault for a collision. Ideally this would result in lower commercial transportation insurance rates as carriers are able to prove that they were not the cause of particular accidents.

The FMCSA will be accepting comments on its notice for sixty days after the publish date, meaning that if you have any opinions on these changes, you have until June 12th to voice them.

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