Report urges major changes to CSA scoring system

Truck Driver InfographicA major private, non-profit science and technology organization suggests the federal government change the system it uses to rate motor carriers.

Researchers at the National Academies of Science today issued a report recommending the U.S. Department of Transportation overhaul its Compliance, Safety, Accountability carrier rating system. The study had been mandated by Congress.

The report says the DOT needs to make CSA’s Safety Measurement System more fair and accurate in assessing motor carriers’ safety risk, and that data used to create the rankings is in need of “immediate attention.”

Overdrive News Editor James Jaillet writes:

“Key recommendations from the report, made public Tuesday, include:

  • “Reconfiguring the SMS statistical model (the percentile ranking used to target carriers for intervention) with an “item response theory” (IRT) model that more accurately targets at-risk carriers;
  • “Making the scoring system more transparent and easier for carriers to replicate and understand
  • “Departing from using relative metrics as the sole means for targeting carriers.

Read Jaillet’s complete story online.