While data-related issues still dog the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Safety Compliance Accountability enforcement mechanism after one year, trucking executives participating in a panel discussion Nov. 8 said they appreciate the agency’s efforts while acknowledging they believe more work is needed.

Jeff Davis of Fleet Safety Services, Arizona Trucking Associations President Karen Rasmussen and Brett Sant, vice president of safety and risk management for Knight Transportation, participated in a “CSA: One Year Later” panel discussion at the Commercial Carrier Journal Fall Symposium in Phoenix.

Davis said the theory behind CSA was that safer event compliance would result in safer behavior and fewer crashes, while noncompliance would result in riskier behavior and more crashes. “Time will tell us if this theory works or not,” he said.

Under CSA, safety ratings are supposed to refresh every 30 days for all companies. The previous SAFER system under SafeStat only reached 2 percent of companies and was lengthy and graded administratively, while the new method uses roadside performance.

The driver safety fitness rating has been on the backburner but is coming back through the upcoming highway bill. “We could literally be looking at a ranking of every single driver out there,” Davis said.

Motor carriers with deficient basics now are having insurance issues, Davis said, and the Inspection Selection System number – which combines past and current safety performance history – has been recalibrated. “This will determine the number of inspections and probably violations you receive in the future,” he said. “The system is set up to look at those who violate. This is totally new in our industry. We’ve never had to deal with this.”