WASHINGTON, (Feb. 19, 2004) — The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation has released a long-awaited report on the Safety Status Measurement System (SafeStat), which found “material weaknesses in the SafeStat data.”

SafeStat is an automated, data driven analysis system designed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). It collects data from interstate carriers, as well as Canadian cross-border carriers with an active U.S. DOT number, and combines current and historical carrier-based safety performance information to measure the relative (peer-to-peer) safety fitness of interstate commercial motor carriers and intrastate commercial motor carriers that transport hazardous materials.

This information includes federal and state data on crashes, roadside inspections, on-site compliance review results and enforcement history. The FMCSA uses SafeStat to determine which companies pose the greatest potential safety risk, and should be targeted for more frequent compliance reviews and roadside inspections.

The audit was conducted after the American Trucking Associations expressed concerns over whether the SafeStat data system is actually effective in targeting high-risk carriers for safety reviews. The IG found that while SafeStat generally calculated scores consistently with its design, there are “material weaknesses in the SafeStat data” reported by jurisdictions and motor carriers and with the “FMCSA processes for correcting and disclosing data problems.”

The IG further commented that although the government supports SafeStat’s continued use as an internal risk management tool, the types and magnitude of data problems found argue for immediate and effective action to correct data problems if the FMCSA is going to continue to disclose carrier results. “The most serious concern is the continued public dissemination of motor carrier rankings for the accident evaluation area, given the incompleteness of crash data,” the IG said.

Furthermore because the data is often used by other parties like shippers and insurance companies, correcting the SafeStat model and improving data collection accuracy is essential in order not to avoid unfairly placing some carriers at a competitive disadvantage.

The FMCSA reportedly began implementing improvements after a previous draft report, such as hiring a third-part contractor to reevaluate the SafeStat model; providing users with clearer information of the system’s limitations, and establishing several goals for improving accuracy.

ATA says plans to support the recommendations in the report and will continue to work with both FMCSA and Congress to ensure the identified problems are addressed expeditiously. For more information, contact the ATA Safety and Operations department at 703/838-1847.

— with files from Truckinginfo.com