Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement

133 Pages·2017·2.15 MB·English

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Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement
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132 pages | 6 x 9 | PAPERBACK
ISBN 978-0-309-46201-3 | DOI: 10.17226/24818
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GET THIS BOOK Panel on the Review of the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability
(CSA) Program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration;
Committee on National Statistics; Division of Behavioral and Social
FIND RELATED TITLES Sciences and Education; Transportation Research Board; National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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IMPROVING MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY MEASUREMENT

Panel on the Review of the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) Program of the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Committee on National Statistics
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

Transportation Research Board

A Report of

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
This activity was supported by Award No. DTMC7516C0001 from the United States Department of
Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Support of the work of the Committee on National
Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation, a
cooperative agreement from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, and several individual contracts. Any
opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the
views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-XX:
International Standard Book Number-XX:
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/24818
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Printed in the United States of America
Suggested citation: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Improving Motor
Carrier Safety Measurement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/24818.
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement

The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as
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Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement

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Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement
PANEL ON THE REVIEW OF THE COMPLIANCE, SAFETY, AND
ACCOUNTABILITY (CSA) PROGRAM OF THE FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER
SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

JOEL GREENHOUSE (Cochair), Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
SHARON-LISE NORMAND (Cochair), Department of Biostatistics and Health Care Policy,
Harvard Medical School
MICHAEL BELZER, Department of Economics, Wayne State University
DAN BLOWER, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
LINDA BOYLE, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of
Washington
MICHAEL DANIELS, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences, University of Texas at
Austin
DON HEDEKER, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Chicago
BRENDA LANTZ, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University
DAN MCCAFFREY, Educational Testing Service
BRISA SANCHEZ, Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan
ROBERT SCOPATZ, VHB, Inc.
JUNED SIDDIQUE, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

MICHAEL L. COHEN, Costudy Director
ESHA SINHA, Costudy Director
RICK PAIN, Consultant
JACOB SPERTUS, Consultant
ANDREW YARGER, Consultant
AGNES GASKIN, Administrative Assistant
MICHAEL J. SIRI, Program Coordinator

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement

COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS

LAWRENCE D. BROWN (Chair), Department of Statistics, The Wharton School, University of
Pennsylvania
FRANCINE BLAU, Department of Economics, Cornell University
MARY ELLEN BOCK, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
MICHAEL E. CHERNEW, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School
JANET M. CURRIE, Department of Economics, Princeton University
DON A. DILLMAN, Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, Washington State
University
CONSTANTINE GATSONIS, Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Sciences,
Brown University
JAMES S. HOUSE, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan
THOMAS L. MESENBOURG, U.S. Census Bureau (retired)
SUSAN A. MURPHY, Department of Statistics and Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan
SARAH M. NUSSER, Office of the Vice President for Research and Department of Statistics,
Iowa State University
COLM A. O’MUIRCHEARTAIGH, Harris School of Public Policy, The University of Chicago
RUTH D. PETERSON, Criminal Justice Research Center, The Ohio State University
ROBERTO RIGOBON, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
EDWARD H. SHORTLIFFE, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University and
Arizona State University

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
2017 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

JAMES M. CRITES (Chair), Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport, Texas
PAUL TROMBINO III (Vice Chair), Iowa Department of Transportation, Ames
NEIL J. PEDERSEN (Executive Director), Transportation Research Board

MEMBERS

VICTORIA A. ARROYO, Georgetown Climate Center and Georgetown University Law Center,
Washington, DC
SCOTT E. BENNETT, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, Little Rock
JENNIFER COHAN, Delaware Department of Transportation, Dover
MALCOLM DOUGHERTY, California Department of Transportation, Sacramento
A. STEWART FOTHERINGHAM, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning,
Arizona State University, Tempe
JOHN S. HALIKOWSKI, Arizona Department of Transportation, Phoenix
MICHAEL W. HANCOCK, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Frankfort
SUSAN HANSON, Graduate School of Geography (emerita), Clark University, Worcester,
Massachusetts
STEVE HEMINGER, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Oakland, California
CHRIS T. HENDRICKSON, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
JEFFREY D. HOLT, Power, Energy, and Infrastructure Group, BMO Capital Markets
Corporation, New York
ROGER B. HUFF, HGLC, LLC, Farmington Hills, Michigan
GERALDINE KNATZ, Sol Price School of Public Policy, Viterbi School of Engineering,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
YSELA LLORT, Miami, Florida
JAMES P. REDEKER, Connecticut Department of Transportation, Newington
MARK L. ROSENBERG, The Task Force for Global Health, Inc., Decatur, Georgia
KUMARES C. SINHA, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
DANIEL SPERLING, Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Environmental Science
and Policy, and Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis
KIRK T. STEUDLE, Michigan Department of Transportation, Lansing
GARY C. THOMAS, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Dallas, Texas
PAT THOMAS, State Government Affairs, UPS, Washington, DC
KATHERINE F. TURNBULL, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station
DEAN WISE, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, Fort Worth, Texas

EX OFFICIO

THOMAS P. BOSTICK, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC
JAMES C. CARD, TRB Marine Board, The Woodlands, Texas
ALISON JANE CONWAY, Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New
York, and TRB Young Members Council
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement
T. F. SCOTT DARLING III, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S. Department of
Transportation
MARIE THERESE DOMINGUEZ, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,
U.S. Department of Transportation
SARAH FEINBERG, Federal Railroad Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
LEROY GISHI, Division of Transportation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the
Interior, Washington, DC
JOHN T. GRAY II, Policy and Economics, Association of American Railroads, Washington, DC
MICHAEL P. HUERTA, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
PAUL N. JAENICHEN, SR., Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
THERESE W. MCMILLAN, Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
MICHAEL P. MELANIPHY, American Public Transportation Association, Washington, D.C.
GREGORY G. NADEAU, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
MARK R. ROSEKIND, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of
Transportation
CRAIG A. RUTLAND, U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida
REUBEN SARKAR, U.S. Department of Energy
BARRY R. WALLERSTEIN, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Diamond Bar,
California
GREGORY D. WINFREE, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation
FREDERICK G. (BUD) WRIGHT, American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials, Washington, DC
PAUL F. ZUKUNFT, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement
Acknowledgments

To begin, the panel is grateful to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA) for providing the funds that made this study possible. We are particularly indebted to
Joseph DeLorenzo, director, Office of Enforcement and Compliance, FMCSA, who provided
three enormously useful presentations to the panel on various aspects of the Compliance, Safety
Accountability Safety Management System (CSA/SMS), set up a meeting at FMCSA to learn
more about the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) database, and helped
identify stakeholders for various aspects of the workings of SMS. It is difficult to imagine how
the panel could have functioned as well as it did without his inputs and assistance. Jack Van
Steenburg and Scott Valentine of FMCSA also provided the panel with excellent presentations,
and FMCSA staff in general, including Martin Walker and Albert Alvarez, provided us with
several technical reports and answered a number of questions on various aspects of CSA/SMS.
We would also like to call out Olu Ajayi of FMCSA’s Research Division and Dee Williams of
the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, who were very forthcoming in
answering many queries related to MCMIS, including during a meeting at FMCSA in December
2016, all of which greatly facilitated our use of the MCMIS database.
The panel also wishes to thank the presenters during our three information-gathering
meetings. They included: Steve Bryan (Vigillo), Chris Burroughs (Transportation Intermediaries
Association), Cary Catapano (National School Transportation Association), Tom DiSalvi
(Schneider National), Jacqueline Duley (Engility Corporation), James Edwards (National
Association of Small Trucking Companies), Jean Gardner (Central Analysis Bureau), Jay Grimes
(Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association), H. Brandon Haller (Government
Accountability Office), Julie Heckman (American Pyrotechnic Association), Collin Mooney
(Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance), Daniel Murray (American Transportation Research
Institute), John Lannen (Truck Safety Coalition), Don Osterberg (retired from Schneider
National), Ken Presley (United Motorcoach Association), Andria Sequin (Schneider National),
Irwin Shires (Panther Premium), Rudolph Supina (DATTCO), Eric Teoh (Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety), Jeff M. Tessin (Government Accountability Office), Pat Thomas (United
Parcel Service), William Voss (International Civil Aviation Organization), Tom Weakley
(Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association), Ann Williamson (University of New South
Wales), and Shuie Yankelewitz (Central Analysis Bureau). All of these individuals spent a great
deal of their time preparing these presentations to advance the panel’s work. We would also like
to thank Becky Weber (Prime Policy), who helped identify stakeholders for our second panel
meeting.
The panel also is indebted to staff of the National Academies outside of the Committee
on National Statistics. They included staff in the Transportation Research Board, especially
Steve Godwin, who provided extremely useful advice on potential panel members. We are also
very grateful to Frank Porto of IT services, who was instrumental in hosting and extracting the
MCMIS data and making it available to CNSTAT staff and panel members.
The panel is very grateful as well to Jacob Spertus and Andrew Yarger for their data
analysis that supported the conclusions and findings in the report. We are also greatly in the debt
of Rick Pain, who delayed his retirement to provide us with critical information and advice
throughout all phases of this study.
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