{"id":10326,"date":"2021-03-18T17:24:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T16:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=10326"},"modified":"2021-03-18T17:24:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T16:24:20","slug":"guardrails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2021\/03\/18\/guardrails\/","title":{"rendered":"Using guardrails can promote safer driving practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trucking fleets and their drivers know the guardrails of their business \u2013 both the physical barriers on the road and the federal regulations in the books. Still, questions arise. Find answers on how guardrails can keep drivers safe on the road.<\/p>\n

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As a <\/span>highway\u00a0patrol officer<\/a>, I had the opportunity to talk to a driver who took a mountain curve a bit too fast and scraped a tire against a\u00a0<\/span>guardrail<\/span>. I told him, \u201cThe guardrails are there for your safety. But you have to do the driving.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The guardrails \u2014 the traffic laws I was enforcing, as well as the physical structures along the highway \u2014 exist to keep all highway users safe. But the safe operation of the vehicle, I told the driver, is a matter of personal responsibility<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trucking fleets and their drivers know the guardrails of their business \u2014 both the physical barriers on the road and the federal regulations in the books. Most people in the trucking industry take\u00a0<\/span>responsibility<\/span>\u00a0for a safe outcome on the road very personally. Still, questions arise about some trucking guardrails.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, motor carriers want to know how the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program works. Those questions include why CSA safety scores fluctuated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and where a fleet manager can get guidance on building a bullet-proof and pandemic-proof safety program? Here is a very brief explanation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBASICs\u201d stand for the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories used by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(FMCSA)<\/span>\u00a0to calculate CSA scores. It compares the safety records of similar motor carriers and prioritizes them for inspections and compliance reviews.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It pays for carriers to do well on BASICs.\u00a0<\/span>That\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0because, with good BASICs scores, a fleet may qualify for electronic bypass systems, like\u00a0<\/span>PrePass<\/span>, and save time and money by not having to stop at every weigh station. More important, fleets will\u00a0<\/span>operate<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>a measurably<\/span>\u00a0safer manner \u2013 and safety is everyone\u2019s goal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Within each BASIC,\u00a0<\/span>FMCSA<\/span>\u00a0compares fleets to\u00a0<\/span>similarly situated<\/span>\u00a0fleets and calls these comparison groupings \u201cSafety Event Groups.\u201d The basis for comparison is key. The agency bases four of the BASICs<\/span>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span>Hours of Service Compliance, Hazardous Materials Compliance, Vehicle Maintenance, and Driver Fitness \u2013 the Safety Event Groups on\u00a0<\/span>several<\/span>\u00a0inspections. The other three<\/span>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span>Controlled Substances & Alcohol, Unsafe Driving, and Crash Indicator \u2013 focus on those inspections where violations were uncovered when composing their Safety Event Groups.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the pandemic, however, the number of vehicle inspections fluctuated dramatically because COVID-19 limited the number of available enforcement officers. Fleet\u00a0<\/span>mileage<\/span>\u00a0also varied. As a result, from month to month, some carriers found themselves in different Safety Event Groups in each BASIC and compared to an entirely\u00a0<\/span>separate set<\/span>\u00a0of fleets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CSA scores, in an oversimplification, result from the number of CSA points in the last 24 months (violations, weighted by how recent and how severe) divided by the number of relevant inspections. FMCSA then compares that calculation to other fleets in each BASIC\u2019s Safety Event Group. So, with the fluctuating number of inspections affecting those Safety Event Groups, a motor carrier\u2019s CSA scores may change, even as the fleet\u2019s underlying safety performance <\/span>remains<\/span>\u00a0steady or\u00a0<\/span>improves<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What to do? Try as they might, fleet managers cannot control COVID-19 beyond their own personnel. But they can get back to the BASICs. A solid safety culture will withstand the impact of COVID-19 and lead to improved CSA scores now and in the future.\u00a0<\/span>PrePass<\/span>\u00a0offers a detailed guide to the BASICs, laying out the responsibilities and steps each member of a carrier\u2019s team must take to achieve that goal. Read the\u00a0<\/a><\/span>PrePass<\/a><\/span>\u00a0guide to the BASICs here<\/a> and keep your operations within the guardrails.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Steve Vaughn is the vice president of field operations at PrePass Safety Alliance<\/a>, the provider of\u00a0PrePass\u00a0<\/a>weigh station bypass service. Vaughn served nearly three decades with the California Highway Patrol and is a past president of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By Steve Vaughn<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Source: https:\/\/www.fleetowner.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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CUT COTS OF THE FLEET WITH OUR AUDIT PROGRAM<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The audit is a key tool to know the overall status and provide the analysis, the assessment, the advice, the suggestions and the actions to take in order to cut costs and increase the efficiency and efficacy of the fleet. We propose the following fleet management audit.<\/p>\n

FLEET MANAGEMENT AUDIT<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trucking fleets and their drivers know the guardrails of their business \u2013 both the physical barriers on the road and the federal regulations in the books. Still, questions arise. Find answers on how guardrails can keep drivers safe on the road. As a highway\u00a0patrol officer, I had the opportunity to talk to a driver who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10328,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10326\/revisions\/10328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}