Truckers — and enforcers — still grappling with basics of CSA, study shows

Updated Jan 31, 2014

Even though the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program turned three years old in December, truck drivers and even enforcers still don’t know what they should about the program and how it works, according to a study released this week by the American Transportation Research Institute. 

Drivers averaged 42 percent on a knowledge test about CSA, while enforcers fared only a little better, scoring 67 percent. 

ATRI’s report, dubbed Compliance, Safety, Accountability: Assessing the New Safety Measurement System and Its Implications — 2013 Update, studied 7,800 drivers during CSA’s first three years, and the low test scores show “drivers do not have a clear understanding of CSA,” the study concludes. 

Of those 7,8000 drivers surveyed, just 1.5 percent of them said CSA had been “very effective” in helping improve safety, while 20.5 percent said CSA had been “very ineffective” in improving safety. 

About 20 percent of drivers supported FMCSA and enforcement using CSA to measure a driver’s safety, and 53.1 percent oppose FMCSA and enforcers using CSA.

ATRI partnered with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to produce the results for enforcers, 20 percent of whom, according to the survey, thought incorrectly that federal safety regulations changed under CSA. 

The study showed that 20 percent of enforcers surveyed said they lacked training on DataQ’s, 23 percent said they lacked training on roadside inspection standards and 27 percent for roadside inspection violations. 

The study is available here, and the CSA knowledge test is included, with an answer key.