CarrierWatch® CSA Industry Report

Freight Solutions
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CarrierWatch® CSA Industry Report
for-hire interstate freight carriers
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Key Findings
„„ CSA adds new data to carriers’
safety records, and nuance to
validation processes
„„ Interstate freight carriers are
almost twice as likely than other
fleets to have CSA data
„„ Carriers may have alerts under
CSA, even when they have no
numeric scores
Introduction
In December 2010, the FMCSA released the initial data on all commercial fleets
affected by Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, or CSA 2010 as it was then
known. Subsequently renamed the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)
program, it will have far-reaching effects on the ways brokers, 3PLs, and shippers
®
buy carriers’ services, as well as, the ways carriers sell them. This CarrierWatch
CSA Industry Report focuses on the approximately 166,000 for-hire interstate
carriers evaluated under the new program.
„„ More carriers have alerts under
CSA than had “deficient” ratings in
SafeStat
Carrier safety evaluations: more detail, less clarity
„„ CSA BASIC scores and alerts appear to vary significantly by state
The new Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) safety program – introduced by
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) nationwide in December – has added a new level of complexity to carrier safety evaluations. SafeStat,
CSA’s predecessor, relied on out-of-service violations for the bulk of its data, but
CSA adds data from roadside inspections.
758,000
commercial fleets covered by CSA
166,000
(21%)
of those fleets are identified as
for-hire, interstate freight carriers
76%
of interstate freight carriers
have CSA data in their records
90%
of interstate freight carriers with
more than 500 trucks have at least
one BASIC score
25%
of interstate freight carriers with 5 or
fewer trucks have at least one BASIC
score
34%
of interstate freight carriers have a
numeric score for at least one BASIC
0.3%
of interstate freight carriers have a
numeric score for every BASIC
In contrast to the black & white SafeStat/SEA, CSA BASICs bring different shades of grey
SafeStat included three Safety Evaluation Areas (SEA) that had the same threshold value, but the CSA’s seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) – five of which are currently published – have different thresholds that cannot be averaged.
The BASICs are controlled or influenced by driver behavior, and drivers are also
scored. Further, a carrier can receive an alert in one or more BASICs, which is
tantamount to a “deficient” SEA score in SafeStat, even when the carrier was not
inspected often enough to generate a numeric score for that BASIC in CSA.
As a result, CSA offers more nuance, but potentially less clarity, for anyone who
buys or sells a freight carrier’s services. Where a broker or shipper might have
defined a single, overall score as an automatic cut-off for qualifying carriers in the
past, this practice will not provide adequate scrutiny under CSA.
This is particularly true for the smallest carriers. While 90% of carriers with 50 or
more trucks have a numeric score in at least one BASIC category, the same holds
true for only 25% of carriers with 15 or fewer trucks.
In addition, enforcement of the Federal safety program varies by state, based on
rules set by each state’s own legislature and carried out by its highway authority.
CarrierWatch© CSA Industry Report | 3
for-hire interstate freight carriers
The net effect of the new safety program is that the size of the carrier and the location of its domicile and routes are among the factors that will affect the carrier’s
safety scores more than ever before.
Compared to SafeStat, more carriers have alerts
But 79% of carriers still have clean records under CSA
Under CSA, numeric scores are issued only after the carrier has accumulated
enough data to create a weighted average of results. When the SafeStat program
was in effect, scores were compiled based on out-of-service violations only.
CSA data is available for 76% of interstate freight carriers, while only 50% had
SEA scores. More carriers have alerts now, too: 21% have at least one alert under
CSA, up from 16% who had deficient scores under the SafeStat program.
The trend to more data and greater nuance is not surprising, because CSA now
offers potential for carriers to be scored in five categories instead of three, and an
alert under CSA can be issued without any score at all. Even so, that leaves 79%
of interstate freight carriers – nearly four out of five – with no alerts.
Figure 1: SafeStat vs CSA
SafeStat vs. CSA
23%
50%
No Data
No Data
21%
16%
Deficient
SEA Score(s)
Have Alert(s)
56%
34%
Data and
No Deficient Scores
Data and
No Alerts
BEFORE
AFTER
More than half (56%) of carriers had
“clean” CSA records that included
inspection data but no alerts, up
from 34% under SEA. However, the
number of carriers with alerts also
increased, from 16% under SafeStat
to 21% with CSA.
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Look beyond the numbers
Alerts, BASIC scores and thresholds
Carriers can still receive an alert on one or more BASICs, even if they have low
scores or no numeric scores at all.
FMCSA considers certain violations to be serious enough to warrant an alert,
even when the carrier has not been inspected enough to generate a numeric
score, or when the score is below the threshold. An alert can also be triggered by
a BASIC score that is over the threshold, with or without a single serious violation.
Under the SafeStat program, there were no alerts independent of scores.
As a result of the new policies, 21% of carriers have alerts in their CSA records
compared to the 16% who had “deficient” ratings in SafeStat, even though 15%
fewer carriers have numeric scores for CSA BASICs than had SEA scores under
SafeStat.
Figure
2: % with
Alerts Among
For-Hire,
Carriers vs. All Fleets
For-Hire,
Interstate
Carriers
vs.Interstate
Other Fleets
Unsafe
Driving
4.9%
1.6%
13%
Fatigued
Driving
3.9%
8.2%
Vehicle
Maintenance
Driver
Fitness
Controlled
Substances
2.9%
3.4%
1.2%
1.1%
0.5%
Freight
Carriers
All DOT
Numbers
Although freight carriers were more
likely than other fleets to have alerts
in any of the five publicly available
BASICs, almost four out of five carriers
(79%) had no alerts at all. Fatigued
Driving, representing HOS violations,
was the most common failing, with
13% of freight carriers receiving an
alert in that category.
CarrierWatch© CSA Industry Report | 5
for-hire interstate freight carriers
Under the CSA methodology,
have different thresholds.
Carri25%
64% different BASICs82%
91%
Unsafe
Driving
Fatigued
Driving
Vehicle
ntenance
Driver
Fitness
90%
ers tended to have more serious violations in some BASICs than in others, so it is
important to evaluate each BASIC separately. Two examples:
Unsafe
Unsafe
Unsafe
75.0%
50.0%
37.2%
28.9%
Driving
Driving
Driving
Fatigued
Fatigued carriers received scores
Fatigued
„„ Controlled Substances:
Only 1.1% of freight
for
62.0%
55.0%
48.5%
Driving
Driving
Driving
this BASIC, but almost half (47%) of the alerts in this category were Serious
Vehicle
Vehicle
Vehicle
Violations.Maintenance
Even if the carrier
has noMaintenance
numeric score50.4%
– or a goodMaintenance
score – in this45.2%
67.0%
59.0%
BASIC, it is still
important to check for alerts.
Driver
Driver
Driver
70.1%
93.2%
Fitness
86.2%
Fitness
76.7%
Fitness
Unsafe
Driving
31.6%
Fatigued
Driving
41.7%
Vehicle
Maintenance
45.8%
Driver
Fitness
49.3%
Controlled
Substances
19.6%
59.7%
„„ Fatigued Driving is a trouble spot, as this category includes Hours of SerControlled
Controlled
Controlled
Controlled
vice (HOS)Substances
regulations that
affect long-haul
carriers
disproportionately.
Less 23.5%
67.3%
49.7%
35.7%
bstances
Substances
Substances
than 25% of all carriers had scores in this category but more than half of
1-5 Trucks those scores were
6-15above
Trucksthe threshold. Many
16-50ofTrucks
these carriers are 50-500
likely to Trucks
be
ordered by FMCSA to install mandatory electronic on-board recording (EOBR)
Average score
exceeds
intervention
threshold
that BASIC
devices
that
automate
driver for
logs.
Figure 3: BASIC Threshold Values for General Freight Carriers
Unsafe
Driving
65.0%
Fatigued
Driving
65.0%
Vehicle
Maintenance
80.0%
Driver
Fitness
80.0%
Controlled
Substances
80.0%
Vehicle
Maintenance
Fatigued
Driving
Unsafe
Driving
65.0%
Controlled
Substances
Driver
Fitness
80.0%
500+ Trucks
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Size matters
Smaller carriers have fewer, but higher scores. Big carriers have more, but lower scores
Larger carriers are more likely to have scores, and on average, the scores will be
lower. Only 25% of the smallest carriers – those with up to five trucks – received
a numeric score in one or more BASICs. More than 90% of mid-sized and large
carriers had at least one numeric score.
When the smaller carriers did have numeric scores, they were usually higher
(worse) than the average for larger carriers. That’s because a small carrier is
most likely to be inspected when it has previously been cited for a deficiency, or
if the carrier’s truck or driver is caught on the road with a violation. A small carrier
with no history of on-road inspections or infractions is likely to continue to avoid
scrutiny under CSA.
It is easier to validate large carriers
than small ones in CSA, because 90%
of carriers with more than 50 trucks
had numeric scores, compared to only
25% of the smallest carriers (with five
or fewer trucks.) The average scores
for large carriers are also lower (better)
than the average for all interstate
freight carriers.
Average Score
by BASIC
% with at least 1
BASIC Score
No BASIC
Scores
FigureAverage
4: Average
ScoresbybyFleet
Fleet Size,
Size, Freight
Carriers
Scores
Freight
Carriers
25%
64%
91%
82%
90%
Unsafe
Driving
75.0%
Unsafe
Driving
50.0%
Unsafe
Driving
37.2%
Unsafe
Driving
28.9%
Unsafe
Driving
31.6%
Fatigued
Driving
70.1%
Fatigued
Driving
62.0%
Fatigued
Driving
55.0%
Fatigued
Driving
48.5%
Fatigued
Driving
41.7%
Vehicle
Maintenance
67.0%
Vehicle
Maintenance
59.0%
Vehicle
Maintenance
50.4%
Vehicle
Maintenance
45.2%
Vehicle
Maintenance
45.8%
Driver
Fitness
93.2%
Driver
Fitness
86.2%
Driver
Fitness
76.7%
Driver
Fitness
59.7%
Driver
Fitness
49.3%
Controlled
Substances
67.3%
Controlled
Substances
49.7%
Controlled
Substances
35.7%
Controlled
Substances
23.5%
Controlled
Substances
19.6%
1-5 Trucks
6-15 Trucks
Average score exceeds intervention threshold for that BASIC
Unsafe
16-50 Trucks
50-500 Trucks
500+ Trucks
CarrierWatch© CSA Industry Report | 7
for-hire interstate freight carriers
Larger carriers, by comparison, are expected to receive more frequent roadside
inspections, because those carriers have dozens or hundreds of trucks on the
road. But not all of those inspections will result in negative findings, and in fact,
the carriers might get “caught” doing everything right, by FMCSA standards. The
statistical result is that large carriers have more data to generate numeric scores,
and the scores are lower (better) on average than those of the general population.
On average, the two groups of the smallest carriers (with 1-5 trucks and 6-15
trucks) have scores that are significantly higher than those of the larger fleets.
For three BASICs in particular – Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving (HOS) and
Driver Fitness – even the average score for the smallest carriers exceeds the alert
threshold.
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Enforcement varies by state
Different states inspect carriers more often or more intensively for some BASICs
While CSA is a Federal program, the enforcement is carried out by the 50 states.
Each individual state sets the rules for roadside inspections on its own highways.
As veteran, long-haul drivers know, different states enforce the rules differently,
and this variation is even more apparent with CSA than it was under SafeStat.
For example, there was more than a 50% increase in CSA alerts compared to the
number found “deficient” under SafeStat, for carriers based in these five states:
Indiana, Georgia, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Under CSA, a 38% to 41%
increase in the number of alerts was also found among carriers domiciled in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, South Carolina and Maine.
Figure
5: % Change
in CSA SEA
Alerts vs
vs Deficient
% Change
deficient
CSA bySafeStat
State Scores, by State
Washington
Maine
Montana
North Dakota
Vt.
Minesota
Oregon
N.H.
Idaho
Wisconsin
South Dakota
Wyoming
Mass.
New York
Conn. R.I.
Michigan
Iowa
Pennsylvania
Nebraska
Nevada
Illinois
Utah
Indiana
Ohio
DC
West
Virginia
Colorado
Md.
Virginia
Kansas
California
New Jersey
Delaware
Kentucky
Missouri
North Carolina
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Arizona
Arkansas
South
Carolina
New Mexico
Missisippi
Alabama
60%
Georgia
Texas
Louisiana
20%
Florida
-15%
CarrierWatch© CSA Industry Report | 9
for-hire interstate freight carriers
Other regional differences in enforcement include:
Controlled Substances
Of the ten states with the highest rate (%) of carrier alerts for Controlled
Substances, six are clustered in the South and Southeast: Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia
Unsafe Driving
Eight of the ten states with the highest percentage of carriers with Unsafe
Driving alerts are contiguous: Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan,
Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia. New Mexico and Louisiana are the
“outliers”
Fatigued Driving
Seven of the ten states with the lowest percentage of carriers with Fatigued
Driving alerts are in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions: Maryland,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, Massachusetts
Vehicle Maintenance
Nine states that border each other had the highest percentage of carriers
with Vehicle Maintenance alerts: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida
Figure
6: States
of Alerts
for Unsafe Driving
States with
highestwith
% ofHighest
alerts for%unsafe
driving
Figure
7: States
of Alerts
for Vehicle Maintenance
States with
highestwith
% ofHighest
alerts for%vehicle
maintenance
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Freight carriers are in a class by themselves
Freight carriers are twice as likely to have safety data in their records, compared to other fleets
Figure
8: Carriers
withDATA
CSA Data
Carriers
with CSA
Any
CSA Data
At Least One
BASIC Score
All Five
BASIC Scores
All DOT
Numbers
43%
12%
0.1%
Freight
Carriers
76%
34%
0.3%
Under CSA, numeric safety scores are
not adequate criteria for qualifying
freight carriers. Only 34% of carriers
had any numeric scores at all, and a
mere 0.3% (468 carriers) had a numeric score for each of the five BASIC
categories.
Conclusion
Conclusion is probably not appropriate for an initial report sifting through the
data looking for the impact CSA will have on for-hire, interstate carriers and the
commercial trucking industry. Our intention in this report is to inform on what
patterns the initial CSA BASIC scores reveal.
If data defines the territory, then the resulting information becomes the map. At
this juncture, it seems a bit premature to claim a new map based on CSA data
has emerged, but clearly the data has early definition.
This is the first in what we envision as a series of CarrierWatch CSA Industry
reports as more data reveals actionable information – maps that brokers, 3PLs,
shippers, and carriers can use to help them move commercial freight under contract or on the spot market.
We will inform CarrierWatch CSA Industry Report subscribers of subsequent
reports, webinars, and related information exchanges.
For more information:
1.800.551.8832
TransCoreFreightSolutions.com
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