Total funding for these  programs in fiscal year 2005 was $36.3 million, with the largest  share—$33.1 million—allotted to the New Entrant program. FMCSA’s education and outreach programs target  a variety of audiences, including the motor carrier industry, commercial  vehicle drivers, and the public; and they involve a variety of approaches,  such as direct contact with carriers, media campaigns, distributing printed  materials, and establishing Web sites. New Entrant Program

FMCSA intends the New Entrant program to inform newly registered motor  carriers (new entrants) about motor carrier safety standards and  regulations to help them gain compliance with FMCSA requirements and  improve truck safety and thus reduce crash rates. The conference report accompanying the  DOT appropriations bill for fiscal year 2005, for example, asked that  FMCSA report by April 2005 to the House and Senate Committees on  Appropriations on strategies linking outreach and education program  initiatives to each goal. The performance budget documents address education and outreach  primarily under this strategic objective for safety, by stating that “educating  carriers about the benefits of operating safely, and in compliance with  safety regulations, is advantageous to both the carrier and enforcement  community.” The budget also states that the education programs are  designed to change “the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of commercial  motor carriers, commercial motor vehicle drivers, and passenger vehicle  drivers, driving in the vicinity of large trucks.”
However, the performance budget does not provide specific information  for each program on how these expected attitude and behavior changes are  linked to broader goals. FMCSA’s performance budget relates its  Household Goods program to DOT’s mobility and FMCSA’s productivity  objectives. Evaluations of Specific Education and Outreach Programs Impacts Are Still in Preliminary Stages, but the Lack of a Plan to Evaluate How New Entrant Safety Audits Improve Knowledge and Attitudes Raises Concern

FMCSA has begun some evaluations of its education and outreach  activities, including the New Entrant program, and plans to use contractors  to evaluate some programs. Specifically, FMCSA has not evaluated whether the  Education and Technical Assistance Package provided to new entrants and  the safety audits conducted under the New Entrant program effectively  communicated information to new entrants, making it difficult to  determine the impact of that program. However, FMCSA’s education and outreach programs and marketing  materials appear to follow theories and research on behavior change. Finally, a public-safety group suggests FMCSA followed reasonable  approaches in starting its education and outreach efforts, however, it  would like to see more quantitative evaluation in the future to help FMCSA  refine its programs. FMCSA Is Increasing Enforcement in the New Entrant Program and Acknowledges the Importance of Enforcement to the Non-Entrant and Safety Belt Programs

Three of FMCSA’s programs we examined, the New Entrant, Non-Entrant  and Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Belt programs have regulations, such  as a requirement for motor carrier drivers to wear safety belts, affecting the  target audiences’ (motor carrier industry) behavior. The  following sections describe how FMCSA has indicated it is using or will be  using enforcement along with education and outreach in these programs. Recommendations for Executive Action

To better demonstrate how FMCSA education and outreach programs  contribute to achieving agency goals, we recommend that the Secretary of  Transportation direct the Administrator of FMCSA to take the following  two actions:   Ensure that the agency describes and documents how education and  outreach program activities link to and support broader program and  agency goals in a planning, program, or budget document that is  available to the public, and  Evaluate the effectiveness of the education and outreach of the New  Entrant program, assessing the extent to which the Education and  Technical Assistance Package and safety audits are helping new carriers  learn and understand FMCSA requirements. In addition, although FMCSA officials stated that they have used a  logic model in their performance budget to link education and outreach  programs to agency goals, the discussion implied a link, but does not      describe how FMCSA’s education and outreach activities are intended to  change target audience’s attitudes and behaviors that would contribute to  meeting agency goals.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is responsible for improving commercial vehicle safety and uses education and outreach as part of its efforts. The House report accompanying the fiscal year 2005 Department of Transportation (DOT) appropriations bill asked GAO to report on FMCSA's education and outreach programs to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. GAO (1) describes FMCSA's education and outreach programs and how they relate to FMCSA's goals (2) identifies the extent to which FMCSA has evaluated its education and outreach programs and (3) describes the extent to which FMCSA's education and outreach programs are effective.

What GAO Found

FMCSA's education and outreach programs--New Entrant, Non-Entrant, Motor Coach, Safety Belt, and Household Goods' target different audiences, including the motor carrier industry, commercial vehicle drivers, and the public.Total funding for these programs in fiscal year 2005 was $36.3 million; the largest share (about $33 million) went to the New Entrant program, which is designed to inform newly registered motor carriers (new entrants) about motor carrier safety standards and regulations to help them gain compliance with FMCSA requirements. FMCSA uses many approaches, such as direct contact with carriers, media campaigns, distributing printed materials, and establishing Web sites to provide information to target audiences. FMCSA has not described how its education and outreach program activities link expected changes in attitudes and behavior to broader goals, such as DOT's strategic objective of reducing transportation-related fatalities. FMCSA officials state that the education and outreach activities and programs link to agency goals at a high level, but this was not evident from our review, with the exception of the Safety Belt program. FMCSA has used a logic model as a tool in other programs to show the relationship between program activities and broader goals. FMCSA has begun some evaluations of its education and outreach programs, and plans other evaluations of these programs. However, although FMCSA's New Entrant program has existed for over 2 years, FMCSA has no plans to evaluate its New Entrant program until 2008. Thus FMCSA has no information on whether information on its safety requirements, provided through the Education and Technical Assistance package or during New Entrant safety audits--targeted toward truckers newly entering the industry--effectively communicate information to new entrants. This lack of evaluation makes it difficult to determine the impact the education portion of the New Entrant program has on commercial motor vehicle safety. Since FMCSA currently has little information on how its programs have affected attitudes and behavior, it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of FMCSA's effort. However, the designs of two programs appear to follow theories and research regarding media campaigns, which are intended to influence decision making about safety. Research and behavior theory suggest that for some types of programs--such as DOT's Click It or Ticket program, which is designed to increase safety-belt use by passenger car drivers--enforcement linked to education can improve results, and FMCSA has indicated it is linking some education and outreach programs to enforcement efforts, where appropriate. Finally, motor carrier association officials whom we spoke with stated that, in their view, FMCSA is doing some positive things in its education and outreach activities. A public safety group stated that FMCSA followed reasonable approaches in starting its education and outreach efforts; however, they would like to see more information on program effectiveness to help FMCSA refine the programs.