Safestat Replacement in 2010

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will release a program developed toward the end of the 2010 4th quarter. CSA 2010 will replace the safestat. CSA is a record of driverᾦtrade;s performance, just as an MVR, that insurance companies will use the scores from the CSA 2010 and establish caps to quality or deny insurance coverage to individual truck drivers and the motor carrier who retains them as employees.

The CSA 2010 score will be based on a undulating 36 month period and contain an evaluation of log violations, drug/alcohol, securement of cargo, vehicle maintenance, accidents, and other various driver violations. Any score above 70 will throw bring up red flags and lead to corrective action, to the driver, by the FMCSA; this will include the carrier that employs the driver as well. Any road side violation a truck driver gets, the CSA score will assign points, regardless if it was a non-service or if not citation issued, i.e., moving violation, points will still be given. Once the CSA 2010 is released, it will include any inspections dated back to January 2008.

The FMCSA will hold truck drivers liable for out of service violations, vehicle maintenance, even if they do not own the vehicle. This will also hold the motor carrier responsible for the drivers if scores are negative. It is extremely important to know that the CSA score will follow the driver wherever he or she may go.

Drivers still have time to improve their scores. The more passing inspections drivers can be given before the scores are released, the better off he or she will be. Do not delay improving your scores now. A horrible CSA 2010 score will have the same consequence as having an MVR with many moving violations in terms of being able to work in the trucking industry.

For more information regarding this new development, please contact FMCSA.