6/13/2012
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced plans to change the way it determines DOT compliance thresholds for issuing hazardous materials permits and for taking drivers or vehicles out of service, according to Bulk Transporter.
The agency has traditionally used a rolling rate based on recent crash data. The so-called out-of-service rate, the crash rate at which drivers are ordered out of service or carriers cannot receive hazardous material safety permit, was set at the 30th percentile for the industry over the past two years.
Instead, the FMCSA has decided to settle on a more permanent rate to provide fixed targets for carriers and drivers to meet. This rate will be set instead at the 30th percentile for the industry over the course of the past eight years and will remain at that number until the agency decides to re-norm the rate.
Of course, the data the FMCSA is using to set this rate is coming from the Motor Carrier Management Information System. That database is the target of a lawsuit being brought by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, charging that the agency has failed to meet federal standards for accuracy.