FMCSA CSA Compliance Quick Tips

  1. The key to good BASIC scores is your drivers not being B.U.S.S.T.ed! This is our acronym for the 5 most common violations (which account for about 90% of all violations. Those are: Burnt light bulbs, Unrestrained Drivers (No Seatbelt), Speeding, Sign Violation (stop sign, red light or lane violation) and Texting/using cell phone while driving.
  2. There is no such thing as a "good" roadside inspection!! Don't offer safety bonuses based on clean inspections. Offer bonuses based on NO Inspections!
  3. Regularly monitor your roadside inspections and reconcile them with your Safety Measurement Score changes at the beginning of each month.
  4. Be sure to sign each DVER (Roadside Inspection Report) and send it to the State that conducted the inspection within 13 days of the roadside visit.
  5. Never ever dress a truck and driver up and send them through a weigh station in an attempt to get a "clean" inspection. See Number 2!! Officers are paid (and well trained) to find things wrong with your truck and driver.

How to Improve Your CSA BASIC Scores

Only 2 things are guaranteed to improve your CSA BASIC scores:

  1. Time
  2. Not Receiving New Violations during roadside inspections

 

That's it. Simple, right? 

What is A CSA Score? +

Only 2 things are guaranteed to improve your CSA BASIC scores:

  1. Time
  2. Not Receiving New Violations during roadside inspections

 

That's it. Simple, right? 

Your CSA BASIC scores will naturally decrease over time.

If you receive a roadside violation today, that violation will have 2 BASIC score "weights". Those are the "Severity Weight" and the "Time Weight".

Severity weights are higher for more serious offenses, like texting while driving.

That severity number (from 1 to 10) is then multiplied by the violation's "time weight" (either a 3, 2 or 1 depending on how long ago the violation was received) to arrive at those "Total Weight" numbers you see when you review you SMS information.

So, if your driver receives a 10 point violation today, it will be 10 (severity weight) x  3 (time weight) for 30 total violation points.

Once that violation is 7 months old, that 3 time weight becomes a 2. At 13 months old, the time weight drops to 1 and the violation will fall off of your scores totally after 24 months.

What is an ISS Score? +

Do you know the one number that could be costing you thousands of dollars? Do you ever feel like the FMCSA "has your number?"

Well, they may.

This magic number is a carrier's "ISS-D" score. That stands for Inspection Selection System.

Basically, this is a single number that helps DOT inspectors at weigh stations decide whether or not to flag a carrier for an inspection. (along with the company's overall BASIC scores and how the truck looks, of course).

Scores range from 1 to 99 with 1 being the best.

Generally, if a fleet's ISS Score is less than about 75, then the inspectors have the option to pull the truck in for an official inspection.

Anything above 75 and you can pretty much guarantee a Level 1 (full) inspection of the rig and the driver.

The ISS-D score is heavily weighted towards HOS violations and Vehicle Maintenance violations (those that are more easily reviewed during a roadside inspection), so the worse a carrier’s BASIC scores in these two critical areas, the greater chances they’ll get the red light at the weigh station.

These scores are currently hidden from public view, but many data providers have generated estimated scores for fleets.

You should focus on reducing your HOS and VM scores to help heal this number as much as possible.

Reviewing Your CSA Scores +

You CSA BASIC scores and crash information will update each month around the 8th.

You can check your scores by clicking the button in the top left of this page and entering your DOT number into the FMCSA's SMS (Safety Measurement System) website.

Once the scores update, you should review the changes in each category to see what your score trends are and what is causing those changes.

Review each roadside inspection received.

Make sure that that inspection belongs to you. If not, you should do a DataQ request by clicking the button on the top left of this page. (We can help you through this process, if needed. Just give us a call or shoot us an email).

Check the paper/electronic copies of the DVER (Driver/Vehicle Examination Reports) that your drivers receive after a roadside inspection is completed.

We've Got You!

Apart from all of this great information, here's how we help with your DOT compliance:

Roadside Inspection Monitoring

We're regularly monitoring your roadside inspections. Once one of your drivers receives a roadside inspection, databases that we subscribe to are updated. Once we're alerted to a new inspection, we'll email you to let you know about it.

CSA Score Management

Each month, we're reviewing your CSA BASIC scores.

If anything has changed for the worse, we'll let you know and try to offer some helpful improvement suggestions.

Unlimited Safety & Compliance Consulting

Need help with anything related to safety or compliance? We're just a call or click away! Simply click on the "Need Help" Button on the top left of this page and let us know what you need help with or call us at 1-855-211-5550 and let's chat!

DOT Compliance and CSA Management

Nothing beats sitting down and actually reading through the 400 or so pages of DOT Regulations.

But, unless you're a huge safety geek like us, I bet that will be a pretty tall order!

If you want to check out the highlights, simply read more about all of our FMCSA-CSA topics here. 

Check out the "Read The Regs" link below.

This takes you to the FMCSA's Regulations page which has a pretty nice table of contents layout to it that makes it much easier to navigate.

Read The Regs

Are you big into compliance statistics too?

Each month, the FMCSA updates all of their databases with new information on each motor carrier.

This happens around the 8th of each month.

So, unless they have your DOT PIN, don't let anyone BS you into thinking that they can provide you "daily CSA score updates" or something like that.

Check out the two links below.

The first one is where you can check your own CSA scores.

The second one shows the monthly breakdown of how everyone else did.

Your CSA Scores

Roadside Inspection Data

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