FMCSA applying new severity weights to 2 driver disqualification regs

SMS uses roadside inspections, reported through ASPEN, and crash data to prioritize motor carriers for interventions.

The Trucker News Services

8/9/2012

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has begun to apply two enhancements to the roadside inspection system (ASPEN).

The enhancements, designed in conjunction with the FMCSA’s state partners and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, are designed to improve the Safety Measurement System (SMS).

SMS uses roadside inspections, reported through ASPEN, and crash data to prioritize motor carriers for interventions.

The FMCSA said the action was in response to stakeholder feedback that indicated that some commercial driver violations in SMS are a result of license suspensions for non-safety related reasons, such as failing to pay a parking ticket.

Motor carriers often cannot detect these suspensions when doing required background or annual checks of a driver’s driving record.

The refinement to ASPEN will collect more precise data about drivers operating commercial motor vehicles (CMV) while disqualified to improve the Agency’s ability to identify non-compliant and unsafe motor carriers.

Specifically, the enhancement will allow roadside inspectors to classify disqualified driver violations into different categories depending on whether the driver’s license is:

1. Suspended by the driver’s license-issuing state or another state; and

2. Suspended for a safety-related (e.g., speeding or false logs violations) or non-safety related (e.g., failure to pay parking tickets) reason.

Under the enhancements severity weights of violations of 383.51 (a) include:

• Driving a CMV (CDL) while disqualified (safety/state of record) (8)

• Driving a CMV (CDL) while disqualified (safety/not state of record) (5)

• Driving a CMV (CDL) while disqualified (non-safety/state of record) (5)

• Driving a CMV (CDL) while disqualified (non-safety/not state of record) (1)

Before the enhancements, any violation of 391.15 (a) — Driving a CMV while disqualified — had a severity weight of eight.

Under the enhancements severity weights of violations of 391.15  (a) include:

• Driving a CMV while disqualified (safety/state of record) (8)

• Driving a CMV while disqualified (safety/not state of record) (5)

• Driving a CMV while disqualified (non-safety/state of record) (5)

• Driving a CMV while disqualified (non-safety/not state of record) (1)

“This additional data will strengthen the effectiveness and accuracy of the Driver Fitness Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) of the SMS,” the FMCSA said in a news release. “More importantly, it will hold motor carriers accountable for using a driver with a license that has been suspended for safety-related reasons by the driver’s license-issuing state.

The enhancements were effective July 20.

In order to ensure uniform implementation, these changes are not applied retroactively, the FMCSA said.

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