Do you understand the CSA 2010?

All truckers have a vested interest in the federal Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010 2010) safety behavior program that ought to be executed nationwide by the finish of 2010. The new program builds on the success of the SafeStat method that tracked out-of-service violations. CSA 2010 analyzes the actions of motor carriers & their drivers, looking for those who display dangerous behavior.



Areas of concern are spelled out in the Behavior Analysis & Safety Improvement Categories or BASICs. Carriers’ BASICs scores reflect their safety behavior. Information for BASICs scores comes from the roadside, so whether the result is a neat inspection, a quotation or a warning for a violation, all information gathered in the work of the inspection affects the score.



The BASIC are:


1. Dangerous driving such as careless or dangerous operation.


2. Fatigued driving such as Hours of Service violations.


3. Driver fitness such as training, experience or medical qualification.


4. Controlled substances & alcohol such as DUI, illegal drugs & misuse of prescription drugs.


5. Vehicle maintenance such as improper or inadequate maintenance.


6. Loading/cargo securement such as shifting or spilled cargo, dangerous handling of hazmat, or oversize/overweight violations, &

7. Crash/Incident Experience such as patterns of crash involvement.



When Jan spoke at the national Truckload Carrier Association meeting in Kansas City & later the same week, listened to a presentation by Anne Ferro, administrator of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA 2010) at the Arkansas Trucking Association Business Conference in Little Rock. It was an schooling on CSA 2010 2010.



FMCSA 2010’s enforcement approach is evolving as government agencies, carriers & drivers gain experience in the tests. This teamwork approach reflects the intent of CSA 2010: that all agencies, carriers & drivers work together to encourage safe behavior & reduce the number of CMV crashes.


Six things were made perfectly clear by Ferro & Missouri officials: CSA 2010 aims to identify & correct dangerous driver & carrier behavior, & five times CSA 2010 is in effect, all roadside inspections & violations will impact driver & carrier safety behavior scores. I asked Jan & Charles to report the difference between the CSA 2010 safety measurement method & the current SafeStat rules in one thought so everyone could understand. Jan Skouby replied, “Our current investigative processes are reactive, by that I mean a controversy must occur before steps can be taken to solve that issue. CSA 2010 is pro-active; they take the large amounts of current information available to the federal government & the states & use that information to try to prevent issues with drivers & carriers before they lead to a crash.”

Charles Gohring added, “The main difference between the current Safestat method & the CSA 2010 Safety Measurement Method is the current method makes use of serious Out of Service violations to choose the both the drivers’ & carriers’ safety performance & choose which trucks to inspect as well as which carriers to inquire in to. This method has worked well & has greatly reduced the crashes/VMT for plenty of years. But the positive trend has flat-lined. For the past three to six years the reduction of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV) has leveled off. The CSA 2010 initiative is the next work to continue lowering CMV crashes/VMT with pro-active methods.”


Missouri check
Missouri is one of the original six 50/50 check states. MoDOT applied CSA 2010 to half of the interstate carriers in Missouri, offering a glimpse of what the remainder of the country may expect when the CSA 2010 safety measurement method is implemented nationwide. MoDOT designs to complete training of their compliance review investigators, those who go to a carrier’s place of business for an audit & examination of necessary safety records by mid-August. They expect to implement the CSA 2010 fully on Sept. 1, making Missouri a 100 percent CSA 2010 state.


CSA 2010 provides states better information on the safety behavior of each interstate carrier & every driver with a CDL. States will use the information to address dangerous behavior before it becomes a habit & causes crashes. For example, ought to a carrier’s BASICs score indicate Hours of Service issues; the state will bring the issue to the carrier’s attention. This may come in the kind of a letter, a phone call or a site visit to inspect logbook records or more extreme sanctions, depending on whether the carrier responds & shows improvement.


MoDOT is not the only agency involved in Missouri CSA 2010 activity. The Missouri state Highway Patrol & the Kansas City & St. Louis Police Departments’ efforts are crucial. They continue to conduct roadside inspections & cease CMVs for violations. What will change is that the information they collect will be used to track lovely & bad safety behavior. Lovely inspections will positively impact carriers’ BASIC percentile scores. The opposite is true for inspections that reveal violations.

Implications for drivers
It is important for every driver to recognize that records of their safety behavior & inspection history are maintained for 36 months, updated every month. Whether a driver works for one or several carriers in the work of this time, every neat roadside inspection, quotation or violation warning is recorded & has a direct effect on information seen by a feasible employer. Since safety records affect carriers’ bottom lines, it ought to surprise no one that employers will seek drivers with neat violation & inspection histories.

Job hopping could become a thing of the past. A new program, the driver Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP), provides a driver’s last three years of crash information & five years of roadside inspections to carriers who subscribe to the private service. Because a driver’s inspection history is an indicator of their future performance, carriers are not likely to have an interest in hiring a driver with an dangerous history.


Drivers have expressed some concern that their records might not be correct. Claiming that paperwork is not always done when they pass an inspection cleanly, they are concerned that PSP information might not show an correct record of their experience. Neat inspections improve drivers’ information & carriers’ BASICs scores.


Jan addressed the issue by saying, “…we at MODOT & those at CVSA understand the concerns & need all roadside inspections to be fair & equitable to both driver & carrier. They are working & speaking with our inspectors & officers to educate them on both the positive & negative effects of a roadside inspection while simultaneously making their time as valuable & productive as feasible to enforce CSA 2010. Of work, if a carrier suspects a specific officer of abusing their power & failing to be fair in their roadside inspections, then the carrier ought to send a letter to that officer’s supervisor outlining their concerns so the issue can be evaluated.”


Ride CSA 2010 to Success

My advice to drivers is to educate yourself as much as feasible about the CSA 2010 BASICs with any safety training your company has. Pre-trip & Post-trip inspections have always been necessary, now you must do them since one-third of all roadside inspections are due to vehicle defects an officer can see when they passes you; lights & tires come to mind here. One-third of all roadside inspections are caused by speeding. Slow down, be safe & keep your job. I say these things because in case you the driver can keep your MVR & CMV inspection history neat, it is possible for you to to make more funds & keep your job.


If what plenty of suspect — that dangerous drivers will need to discover a new career when potential employers see their safety records — comes to pass, fewer drivers will soon be pulling more lots with higher pay. It might as well be you making the lovely money. So, watch your speed, keep all of your paperwork current & keep an eye on the truck because law enforcement will certainly be watching. Keep in mind, safe drivers are going to be the key to the carrier’s success with CSA 2010 & they will only need to hire lovely, neat drivers.


Jim C. Klepper is president of Interstate Trucker Ltd., a law firm dedicated to legal defense of the nation's commercial drivers. They is a lawyer who has focused on transportation law & the trucking industry in particular. They works to answer your legal questions about trucking & life over-the-road & has his CDL.
Posted by fan at 1:59 PM