In addition, FMCSA’s field offices in each state, known as  divisions, have investigators who conduct safety reviews of carriers  identified by state inspection and other data as unsafe or at risk of being  unsafe. However, compliance  reviews are extremely resource intensive; therefore, only a small  percentage of the motor carrier industry can be evaluated in this manner,  given limited federal and state resources. Annually, for example, FMCSA  and its state partners have conducted compliance reviews of about 3  percent of registered motor carriers. In 2004, FMCSA began to design and develop CSA, a program to better  target resources toward unsafe carriers, deploy a more comprehensive  array of interventions, and proactively evaluate safety performance based  on data, rather than solely based on compliance reviews. Additionally, FMCSA expects to use data to identify unsafe carriers and  drivers earlier to address safety problems before crashes occur. Some CSA Oversight Activities Are Functional but Others Are Indefinitely Delayed, and Implementation Problems Could Compromise the Program’s Effectiveness

Close to a year after the anticipated completion date, FMCSA has partially  implemented two of the three planned CSA oversight activities—the SMS  and an expanded set of interventions—in all states; however, it still cannot  use CSA safety ratings to (1) use CSA to assess the fitness of motor  carriers or (2) assign safety fitness determinations to individual drivers that  would prohibit them from operating trucks and buses. Although it has been  delayed, FMCSA has begun to implement the CSA oversight activities  directed at carrier safety, including SMS and carrier interventions, such as  Warning Letters and On-site Focused investigations. However, FMCSA  has yet to issue the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), originally  scheduled to be finalized in 2009, that would allow it to use CSA data to get  unsafe carriers off the road. However, FMCSA has not  provided comprehensive information to Congress and the public on the  status of CSA as well as the risks associated with these delays and issues,  and how it plans to mitigate those risks. Moreover, FMCSA has only  recently taken steps to separately measure the fitness of drivers to operate  trucks and buses, as research has shown that drivers—not vehicle  problems—cause most carrier crashes. FMCSA has not specified time  frames for developing this component or how it will ultimately be used. With respect  to the third planned oversight activity, suspending unfit carriers on the  basis of SMS scores, FMCSA originally intended to finalize the  rulemaking by 2009 but this effort has been delayed; FMCSA now plans  to issue the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking later this year and will not  finalize the rulemaking until 2013. This information is provided to  carriers to help them identify and address their own safety issues. While FMCSA  previously expected to implement two other new interventions—Off-site  Investigations and Cooperative Safety Plans—nationwide by August  2011, it has delayed their implementation in the nonpilot states because it  has not yet finished developing the key technology required to manage  them. FMCSA Has Had Mixed Success Managing CSA’s Implementation and Has Not Communicated to Congress Its Strategy to Address Identified Weaknesses and Delays

In some areas, FMCSA performed well as it implemented CSA, most  notably, in conducting extensive outreach to carriers. Specifically,  FMCSA has not  completed a key technology to fully implement the interventions and  provided training on interventions yet to be implemented,    developed and issued the NPRM to take action against unfit carriers  based on CSA data,    addressed staffing issues and completed efforts to help staff shift to a  new safety enforcement paradigm. Other systems also now allow FMCSA to evaluate drivers:    The Driver Safety Measurement System (DSMS) uses safety data  from roadside inspections and crashes to measure drivers’ safety in a  manner similar to that used under SMS and allows FMCSA and state  partners to identify unsafe, or “red flag,” drivers. Furthermore, until FMCSA  completes new performance metrics, gauging the extent to which CSA  improves safety will be problematic. In SMS, any violation found is used in calculating a carrier  BASIC score. The reason FMCSA can contact carriers with a wider range of  violations—including less severe violations—than it did under SafeStat is  that CSA provides a wider range of intervention tools, some of them  requiring few resources to implement. Not All Carriers Have Enough Inspections to Receive Safety Rankings

While the pilot test suggests that SMS has the potential to improve safety  over the prior SafeStat system, SMS’s ability to calculate BASIC scores  for carriers is dependent upon sufficient roadside inspection data for that  carrier, which are not always available for a significant segment of  carriers. regularly report to Congress on CSA’s status; the problems that  FMCSA has encountered during the implementation of CSA and the  risks they pose to full implementation of CSA; its strategy for  mitigating these risks; and a timetable for fully implementing CSA and  reporting the progress made in developing and implementing CSA  performance measures. Specifically, this report addresses (1) the status of the  CSA rollout and what issues, if any, could affect the full and effective  implementation of the program and (2) CSA’s potential to improve safety.
Why GAO Did This Study

Over 3,600 people in this country died in 2009 as a result of crashes involving large commercial trucks and buses. Until recently the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and its state partners tracked the safety of motor carriers--companies that own these vehicles--by conducting resource-intensive compliance reviews of a small percentage of carriers. In 2004, FMCSA began its Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) program. CSA is intended to identify and evaluate carriers and drivers posing high safety risks. FMCSA has focused on three key CSA oversight activities to evaluate carriers: a new Safety Measurement System (SMS) using more roadside inspection and other data to identify at-risk carriers; a wider range of "interventions" to reach more at-risk carriers; and using SMS data to suspend unfit carriers. FMCSA expected to fully implement CSA by late 2010. FMCSA also plans to separately use data to rate drivers' fitness. In this report, GAO assessed: (1) the status of the CSA rollout and issues that could affect it and (2) CSA's potential to improve safety. GAO reviewed CSA plans and data, visited eight states, and interviewed FMCSA, state, and industry officials.

What GAO Found

Close to a year after the anticipated completion date, FMCSA has partially implemented two of the three planned CSA carrier oversight activities--the new SMS and an expanded set of interventions--in all states; however, it still cannot use CSA safety ratings to get unsafe carriers off the road because it has not completed a rulemaking needed to do so. Specifically, (1) FMCSA implemented SMS in 2010, as scheduled, to replace the prior system, known as SafeStat. The system allows FMCSA to evaluate, score and rank the safety of carriers and identify at-risk carriers needing intervention. However, states have had to expend resources to respond to carriers that have requested reviews of inspection violations shown in the system. (2) FMCSA has implemented most of the expanded array of enforcement interventions for at-risk carriers, including issuing warning letters and initiating focused reviews of carriers' safety operations that allow FMCSA to reach more at-risk carriers; however, it has delayed implementation of two interventions--Off-site Investigations and Cooperative Safety Plans--because the technology needed to implement them will not be completed until at least 2012. (3) FMCSA has not yet begun using SMS data to suspend unfit carriers, and is 2 years behind in issuing and completing the rulemaking needed to use these data instead of a time-consuming compliance review. FMCSA expects to finalize the rulemaking in 2013. In addition, FMCSA has had mixed success managing implementation of CSA oversight activities thus far. FMCSA performed well in conducting outreach to carriers and responding to stakeholder concerns, but experienced difficulties in realigning its workforce for CSA and adapting staff to CSA's new safety paradigm. FMCSA has not provided comprehensive information to Congress and the public on the risks associated with either the delayed carrier intervention activities or operational and management issues that arose during implementation and its plans to mitigate these risks; thus Congress may lack information needed to make decisions about CSA. Moreover, FMCSA has taken initial steps to separately measure drivers' fitness to operate trucks and buses by seeking new legislative authority to prohibit unsafe drivers from operating in interstate commerce. However, FMCSA has not specified time frames for developing this measurement, how it will ultimately be used, or whether delaying the implementation will affect safety. It is too early to definitively assess the extent to which CSA will improve truck and bus safety nationwide. Data from a pilot test suggest that SMS and the expanded range of intervention tools provides a more effective means of contacting these carriers and addressing their safety issues. However, CSA's success depends on the availability of sufficient inspection data for carriers. For example, small carriers are less likely to receive enough roadside inspections to be scored and ranked in SMS. FMCSA has begun but not finished performance measures for CSA and has not yet collected the data needed to use them, so the extent that it can show CSA improves safety is unclear.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that FMCSA (1) develop a plan to implement driver fitness ratings in a reasonable timeframe and (2) regularly report to Congress on problems and delays in implementing CSA and plans to mitigate risks. FMCSA provided technical comments and agreed to consider the recommendations.