FMCSA takes next step in research on driver pay’s connection to safe operation

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced this week it sent to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget a request for the OMB’s stamp of approval on a study that will seek to determine the correlation between driver pay and safety.

The agency announced its plans for the study in August, when it began a 60-day acceptance of public comment on the planned research.

FMCSA says it hopes to determine whether a relationship exists between how drivers are paid — mileage, hourly, percentage, etc. — and their safety performance.

Data will be collected from carriers via online surveys, and carriers will be selected at random, it says.

The agency hopes to publish the results of its study this year, according to a Federal Register notice published this week.