FMCSA’s Enforcement Programs and Actions Have Been Stronger Since 2000

In response to criticisms in 1999 that its enforcement programs were  ineffective at improving safety, FMCSA has strengthened its enforcement  approach. However, while implementing this  approach, the fatality rate from crashes involving large trucks continued to  increase. In this respect, the  number of compliance reviews more than doubled from approximately  6,400 in 1998 to more than 13,400 in 2001. The agency completed almost 31,000 homeland  security-related visits in fiscal year 2002. FMCSA Has a Well- Defined Enforcement Approach and Has Efforts Underway to Help It Refine and Set Priorities for Its Enforcement Programs

To a large extent, FMCSA follows key effective management practices in  making decisions about its enforcement approach. FMCSA’s enforcement  approach addresses major risk factors that contribute to or cause crashes,  and FMCSA targets its enforcement resources at the motor carriers that it  assesses as having the greatest crash risk. FMCSA is also working to obtain additional  information on crash risk factors, and on the costs and effectiveness of its  enforcement programs, needed to help it further refine and set priorities  for the programs. FMCSA Has a Broad Range of Enforcement Goals and Performance Measures but It Does Not Measure the Effectiveness of Its Civil Penalties

FMCSA has a broad range of goals and related performance measures that  it uses to provide direction to—and track the progress of—its enforcement  programs, but it does not measure the effect that one of its key  enforcement actions—civil penalties against motor carriers—has on  carriers’ compliance with safety regulations. MCSAP Is Designed to Improve Safety but Program Oversight Is Inadequate

MCSAP employs a performance-based approach to truck safety by  encouraging states to analyze data to identify safety problems and target  their grant activities to achieve reductions in truck crashes, injuries, and  fatalities. Of the 61 goals in  states’ safety plans, we could not determine whether 61 percent of these  goals were substantially met. In the past 3 years, the four service centers  reviewed only 15 of 52 division offices (29 percent). We believe that it is noteworthy that FMCSA has begun to  refine its enforcement approach based on information about the causes of  crashes, that it plans to develop a tool to help it set priorities for its  enforcement programs based on estimates of their cost-effectiveness, and  that it has conducted—and continues to conduct—program evaluations of  its enforcement programs, including evaluations that are assessing  alternative approaches to enforcement. In  addition, because FMCSA does not know how much its civil penalties  increase carriers’ compliance with safety regulations, it lacks the  information it needs to make sound decisions about any changes to its use  of civil penalties; it also may be missing opportunities to increase carrier  compliance, and ultimately safety, that could result from such changes. To improve FMCSA’s oversight of MCSAP grantees, we recommend that  the Secretary of Transportation direct the FMCSA administrator to (1)  assess, upon implementation, whether the improved performance  review of state activities are meeting the agency’s intended goals; (2)  incorporate MCSAP oversight as a segment of the effectiveness study of  division offices; and (3) assess the oversight activities of service centers.
Why GAO Did This Study

About 5,000 people die and more than 120,000 are injured each year from crashes involving large trucks. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has several enforcement programs to improve truck safety and funds similar enforcement programs in states through its Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP). Following concern by Congress and others in 1999 that FMCSA's enforcement approach was ineffective, the agency committed to take stronger actions. This study reports on how FMCSA's enforcement approach has changed, how it makes decisions about its enforcement approach, and how it ensures that its grants to states contribute to the agency's mission of saving lives.

What GAO Found

FMCSA has made considerable strides in strengthening its enforcement programs and actions. For example, it almost doubled the number of on-site safety reviews (called compliance reviews) at carriers' bases of operations, from approximately 6,400 in 1998 to 11,300 in 2004. Further, it has increased the average civil penalty by about 75 percent (from $820 to $1,400) over the same period. FMCSA generally maintained its firmer approach to enforcement at a time when it took on the additional responsibilities of conducting homeland security-related reviews of hazardous materials carriers and safety reviews of new carriers. To a large extent, FMCSA follows key effective management practices in making decisions about its enforcement approach. For example, its enforcement approach addresses major risk areas that contribute to (or cause) crashes, and targets its enforcement resources at the motor carriers with the greatest crash risk. FMCSA also has a broad range of enforcement goals and performance measures that it uses to provide direction to--and track the performance of--its enforcement programs. Furthermore, FMCSA is working to obtain additional information on crash risk factors and on the costs and effectiveness of its enforcement programs, as well as alternative approaches that it needs to further refine and set priorities for its programs. However, because FMCSA does not measure the effect that one of its key enforcement tools--civil penalties--has on carriers' compliance with safety regulations, it lacks the information needed to make sound decisions about any changes to its use of civil penalties. MCSAP is designed to improve safety by employing a performance-based approach; however, FMCSA's oversight for these grants is inadequate. In reviewing the 61 program goals set by the seven states that received the largest MCSAP grants, we could not determine whether states substantially met almost two-thirds of these goals due to missing performance information, among other reasons. Further, although FMCSA requires that its various offices periodically review grant activities for adequacy of oversight, few of these reviews are being completed. For example, in the past 3 years, FMCSA's service centers have assessed only 15 of the agency's 52 field division offices (29 percent). FMCSA did not conduct these reviews for various reasons, including a curbed oversight role for service centers and markedly reduced headquarters staffing for MCSAP.