Industry stakeholders weigh in on safety fitness determination

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Wednesday, July 31 conducted its third and final listening session before crafting a formal proposal regarding safety fitness determination for motor carriers.

Safety fitness determination is currently based on an analysis of existing motor carrier data and data collected during a compliance review. The process uses six factors – general, driver, operational, vehicle, hazardous materials and crashes – to assign a motor carrier’s safety fitness rating.

The current system provides carriers an overall safety rating of either satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory.

In August 2023, FMCSA published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that asked for feedback on whether the process to determine a motor carrier’s safety fitness should be revised. Following the comment period, the agency decided it needed additional information before it could issue a formal proposal.

To acquire that information, FMCSA held public listening sessions at the Texas Trucking Show on June 29 and online listening sessions on June 25 and July 31.

July 31 listening session

About 150 industry stakeholders attended FMCSA’s final listening session regarding safety fitness.

The agency took questions and comments from the public, asking commenters to focus on the effectiveness of the current three-tier system, a proposed single rating of “unfit,” the use of inspection-based data and whether driver behavior should be incorporated.

Several truckers and other industry stakeholders advocated for keeping the three-tier system, citing a need for a conditional rating.

Mike Cannistra of Logistic Dynamics said that a single rating of “unfit” would “muddy the waters even more,” noting that about 90% of carriers operate without a rating.

“There will likely be a really small number of ‘unfit’ ratings, and everyone else will fall in the other category,” Cannistra said.

OOIDA’s take

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business carriers, has said there are potential pros and cons to either maintaining the current three-tiered system or eliminating it.

“As FMCSA pursues the development of a new methodology to determine when a motor carrier is unfit to operate, the agency must avoid relying on the Compliance, Safety, Accountability and Safety Measurement System programs,” OOIDA wrote in February comments signed by President Todd Spencer. “Since their inception in 2010, CSA/SMS have completely failed in their objective to reduce injuries, fatalities and crashes. This will not change until CSA/SMS incentivizes actual safety performance instead of regulatory compliance.”

In addition, OOIDA said that safety fitness determination reforms should not consider adoption and use of safety technologies in a carrier’s rating. The Association argued that incentivizing carriers to simply adopt safety technologies without improving actual safety would only benefit carriers who can afford costly new technologies.

What’s next?

For those who were unable to attend the three listening sessions, FMCSA will continue to accept written input through Wednesday, Aug. 7 at SafetyFitnessDetermination@dot.gov.

The agency is expected to use the feedback from the listening sessions and written comments to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking.

According to the Department of Transportation’s latest regulatory agenda, FMCSA is projected to publish that notice in June 2025. LL