RULES & REGULATIONS * USA - ATA Targets Unreasonable Trucking Accountability Rules

The ATA has been pressing the FMCSA to make changes to its crash accountability rules for several years

Chicago,ILL,USA -Passen Law Group -3 Oct 2010: ... The ATA continues to target the agency's, largely responsible for regulating the trucking industry the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, crash accountability methodology and rules. Specifically, the ATA would like to see accountability determinations made before crashes are entered by the agency, and thus used in the 2010 Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) and Safety Measurement System (SMS). The ATA would also like to see specific types of crashes excluded from entry and use in the system, such as:

• documented suicides;
• crashes involving a car driving in the wrong direction;
• crashes where a truck is rear-ended while stopped at a red light; and
• crashes where a truck is struck while legally parked on a roadside.

In other words, certain types of truck accidents not caused by the fault of the truck driver or trucking company. But the 2010 updates to the FMCSA rules again did not include the requested changes... For example, if these accidents continue to be included in the crash accountability data, then the government’s resources may be committed towards the wrong carriers. This would have the effect of leaving the carriers who in fact have the worst records free from appropriate FMCSA scrutiny... (Photo from: truck-accident-lawyer-blog: A rear ended truck accident)