Significant changes are forthcoming to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, particularly its Safety Measurement System (SMS). The updates aim to improve how safety violations are categorized, scored, and addressed.
Here’s what you need to know to stay ahead of these upcoming changes and how they might impact your operations.
What’s Changing in the Safety Measurement System?
After years of evaluation, FMCSA is set to overhaul several key aspects of the SMS. Starting from 2023, the agency sought input from various stakeholders, including carriers, drivers, and law enforcement, to revamp its methodology. Now, these changes are on the horizon, and while the specifics won’t be implemented immediately, preparation is essential.
Goodbye to BASICs, Hello to Compliance Categories
The first notable change involves retiring the current seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs). Instead, they’ll be replaced by six streamlined “Compliance Categories.” One significant adjustment involves folding Controlled Substances and Alcohol violations into the Unsafe Driving category, alongside all Out-of-Service (OOS) violations.
Vehicle Maintenance Gets a Driver-Specific Update
The Vehicle Maintenance category will also see specific changes. Violations that drivers should catch during pre-trip inspections will now be labeled as “Vehicle Maintenance: Driver Observed.” This list currently includes 858 potential inspection items, although the number may change before implementation. Download the list here.
FMCSA Compliance Division representative Wesley Russell explained, “Dividing those (violations) out does a better job increasing our understanding of what violations are occurring, and gives us a head start already on determining where to go look to determine if maybe there’s smaller things on quick checks that are not being found, or maybe it’s something bigger in the overall maintenance program.”
For drivers, the classification of a maintenance violation as “Driver Observed” can have direct implications. Such violations are likely to appear in the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP), making it more challenging for drivers who neglect pre-trip inspections to secure employment.
Changes to Violation Severity Points
Another significant adjustment involves the scoring system for violations. Under the current system, violations are weighted on a scale of 1–10. The new process simplifies this to just two levels:
- Out-of-Service (OOS) violations and driver disqualification incidents will receive a “2.”
- All other violations will receive a “1.”
Additionally, similar violations will be grouped into approximately 100 categories. For example, hours-of-service violations, such as 14-hour, 11-hour, rest break, and 70-hour rule violations, will fall under the same category. This means that only one point will be applied per inspection, even if multiple related violations are identified.
According to Russell, this change helps identify problem areas without penalizing carriers for multiple similar violations during one inspection.
When Will These Changes Take Effect?
FMCSA has not set a definitive date for the new system to go live. Several milestones, such as updating the CSA website and finalizing the methodology, still need to be addressed. For now, carriers and drivers will continue to use the existing system, and all current data in SMS will be transitioned to the new format once the changes are implemented.
Stakeholders can continue to monitor updates, including a prioritization preview, on the FMCSA’s official site here.
Staying Prepared for What’s Ahead
While initial plans included webinars in February and March 2025, these were canceled following January’s session. However, stakeholders can still access valuable resources and submit questions about the changes.
Source: The Trucker
Image Source: fleetequipmentmag
