The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it would withhold carrier scores in the Cargo-Related Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) from public view when the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 Safety Measurement System becomes fully operational in the first week of December.

FMCSA is recalibrating the BASIC by adjusting the cargo securement violation severity weightings based on comments from experts. The decision to withhold percentile ranking and intervention status stemmed from a need to make certain that the weightings were appropriately identifying carriers with safety risks. Industry groups have protested that this BASIC unfairly elevated exposure and targeted specific segments, namely flatbed carriers.

The American Trucking Associations supported the move. “ATA continues to support the objectives of CSA 2010 … and we are pleased with the Agency’s decision to continue working on it’s Cargo-Related BASIC to get it right before it’s made public,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said.

FMCSA is also analyzing the impact on the different industry segments of a carrier’s exposure in this BASIC.  During this analysis period, the BASIC results will continue to be used for intervention prioritization by enforcement personnel. Accordingly, percentile rankings and intervention status will be accessible to the FMCSA enforcement community and motor carriers only.   

FMCSA also plans to modify the presentation of BASIC results in the following three areas:
• Change of the term “Deficient” to “Alert” when a motor carrier’s score in one or more BASICs is above the FMCSA threshold for intervention.
• Change of the highlight color from red to orange.
• Improvement of the language to clarify that BASIC results signify the carrier is prioritized for an FMCSA intervention.