FMCSA to Make Changes

Will the SMS Receive an Overhaul

In case you missed it, on February 15, 2023, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a Notice and Request for Comment on the proposed changes to the Safety Management System (SMS). For those unaware of what the SMS is, it is a database which compiles motor carrier data monthly and prioritizes a motor carrier’s status. Within the system it tracks things such as:

• Violations found during inspections
• Traffic enforcement
• Investigations
• Crash and motor carriers census data

To improve the methodology used to calculate and prioritize motor carriers, the FMCSA has proposed the following changes:

• Reorganized “BASICS”
• Reorganized Roadside Violations
• Simplified Severity Weight
• Improved Intervention Thresholds
• Proportionate Percentiles
• Greater Focus on Recent Violations
• Updated Utilization Factor
• New Segmentation
• Accounting For Not Preventable Crashes

All these changes are being done to help reach the FMCSA’s goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. All comments must be received on or before May 16, 2023. To register for their upcoming Q&A webinars you can click on the links below.

Thursday, March 7, 3-4 PM EST

Tuesday, March 14, 3-4 PM EST

Wednesday, March 15, 11 AM- 12 PM EST

For those who wish to view the Notice, you can click HERE NOW. And those who wish to obtain more information on the specific changes more in depth can view them HERE.

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