The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration late last week reiterated that it is fielding requests from fleets and owner-operators to review crashes that weren’t the fault of the truck driver and whether such crashes should count against carriers’ and operators’ scores in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.
The agency last August began accepting submissions for its Crash Preventability Demonstration Program, which is expected to be ongoing until June, the agency says. The intention of the program is to test the feasibility of reviewing crashes in which truck drivers are not at fault and to remove them from CSA scores if they are deemed non-preventable.
Dinging CSA scores for crashes that aren’t the fault of the truck driver was a chief concern, among others, about the safety rating program and how it tabulates carriers’ scores. Submissions to the program are made via the agency’s existing DataQ’s website, which is used review violations within the CSA system.
When the program was announced in July 2017, FMCSA said the following crash types are eligible for review during the pilot program:
- When a truck was struck by a driver under the influence or a related offense
- When a truck was struck by a motorist driving in the wrong direction
- When a truck was hit in the rear
- When a truck was hit while legally stopped or parked
- When a pedestrian or car drives in front of a truck in an attempt to commit suicide by truck
- When a truck sustains disabling damage after hitting an animal in the road
- When a crash is caused by an infrastructure failure or falling trees, rocks or other debris
- When a truck is hit by cargo or equipment from another vehicle
To have a crash determination ruling overturned, operators must present “compelling evidence that the crash was not preventable,” the agency said in February. Submitters are encouraged to present police reports, dash cam videos, insurance reports and other evidence. The agency said in February to be sure to mark that the crash was non-preventable, or otherwise it will not be reviewed.
