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Monthly Archives: March 2011
Time Keeps on Slippin’ Into the Future
According to a chronological authority no less impressive than Mr. Steve Miller, time does, indeed, keep on slippin’ into the future. And time can be confusing – time travel is fraught with danger – just watch those amazing Terminator documentaries. Another example: future perfect tense: By the time you finish reading this blog post, you will have become more knowledgeable, will haven’t you? (or will did you?)
Anyway, one place where time (or specifically time weighting) does not have to be confusing is in understanding your CSA scores. See the simple chart below my future self provided to me:
Predicting the Future
There’s been a lot of noise lately regarding predictive analytics and the ability to forecast a drivers future unsafe behavior. Behavior that, if left unchecked, will almost certainly lead to an accident. This is exciting stuff indeed. Imagine having the ability to see into the future…..seems almost too good to be true. In fact there is only one documented instance (that I am aware of) of an individual possessing the supernatural ability to see into the future. Yes, that person was the one and only Carnac the Magnificent!
Sage and Seer. Divine and Borderline Mystic!
How can we harness this divine power of mysticism to predict and prevent commercial motor vehicle accidents? Hmmmm……. Read more
Plaintiff’s Attorneys Try to Take Advantage of CSA
Posted by Kevin Anderson on Mar 18, 2011
We all knew it was coming; plaintiff’s attorneys have started to devise ways to use CSA against motor carriers. The American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) published an article in its February 2011 magazine outlining how plaintiff’s attorneys (now wanting to be known as “civil justice attorneys”) should use particular discovery steps to use CSA and PSP data against motor carriers. While it is disconcerting to know that the plaintiff’s attorneys are organizing around CSA, it is beneficial to know how they plan to use the data so you can take steps to protect your company. Read more
CSA Related Enforcement Fines
The FMCSA recently released the 2010 closed enforcement cases involving regulated motor carriers operating in the United States. A total of $36,171,117 in fines and penalties was levied against 7,325 carriers. I thought it might be interesting to sift through the data and see what impact CSA might have.
I discovered that 1,652 carriers of the 7,325 who were fined (22.5%) had at least one CSA violation listed as being a factor in the settlement amount ($). Carriers who had a CSA related violation present paid a total of $13,139,675 (36.3% of the total). So fewer than a quarter of the penalized carriers paid over a third of the total fines.
The average fine levied against the group of all penalized carriers was $4,938, while the average penalty for a carrier with a CSA violation present was $8,499 (72%) higher. It will be very interesting to see how 2011 shapes up.
Fatigue is the clear focus in fines
The graph above shows 1202 carriers had a Fatigue Driving BASIC violation present in their enforcement cases. (189 Cargo, 172 Fitness, 87 Maintenance, 2 Unsafe) Read more
TAFKAP
Just before CSA launched last December, the Agency determined that the use of the label “DEFICIENT”, in bright red, as it relates to a motor carrier’s status in one of the seven BASIC’s was too inflammatory and would lead to public alarm and other mischief. It was decided that the term “ALERT” (colored orange instead of red) was less so, and the term ALERT was subsequently attached to over 52,000 carriers who have at least one BASIC over the threshold as determined by the CSA Methodolgy (the recent SMS release shows 52,472 ALERT Carriers).
Today, the Agency announced that it has adopted a new designation for those carriers who are over threshold. (See official announcement)
This symbol is the new designation for carriers over Threshold in a CSA BASIC:
I Googled the term “Alert Symbol” and Google returns the following:
Is this progress? Is the International symbol for ALERT a less pejorative designator than the word itself? I have another idea that the Agency may want to consider. Read more
Wednesday Walk-Through Extended through April
Thanks to the great attendance and positive customer feedback, we’ve now extended our Wednesday Walk-Throughs through the end of April 2011. REGISTER
What IS a Wednesday Walk-Through? It’s a free one-hour overview webinar where we walk you through the Vigillo System. Great as a refresher or to bring team members up to speed on Vigillo.
Highlights: We’ll do an overview of ALL Vigillo scorecards. In particular, the overview of the Inspection Root Cause Scorecard and Custom Groups Scorecards were mentioned as highlights. I heard from several seasoned Vigillo customers that they work Vigillo’s CSA scorecards nearly every day and they were able to pick up a few new tips as well.
So, we’ve extended the Wednesday Walk-Throughs into April 2011. Click HERE to see the schedule, register, or read more about the Wednesday Walk-Throughs. You can also view a recorded video of a previous Wednesday Walk-Through.
Coming soon – The Monday Mumble-Throughs! (Just kidding – more coffee always fixes the Monday mumbles!)
5 Things to Consider When Reviewing PSP Data
[NOTE: From time to time, Vigillo requests guest articles from recognized industry experts. We are pleased to have the following post from Annette Sandberg, former FMCSA administrator and current CEO of TransSafe Consulting LLC. ]
Now that the FMCSA has started the Pre-Employment Screening Program – many employers are unsure if or how to use the data contained in the reports. The FMCSA was mandated by Congress to make this data available to potential employers (after a release is signed by the driver) to help the employing motor carrier make better decisions about hiring safe drivers. However, many motor carriers still wonder how to use the data in making employment decisions of future drivers.
The FMCSA recently announced changes to the PSP and will now provide even more data for employers to consider. These changes include providing co-driver safety and post crash violations. It remains to be seen how this additional data may create even more challenges for employers.
In the meantime here are 5 things to consider regarding PSP data. Read more
2010 Closed Enforcement Cases – $$$
The FMCSA has updated the enforcement (penalties) database for 2010. Penalties are up 24% over 2009 from $29.3M to $36.1M. In 2009, 5,835 carriers were penalized, in 2010 that number increased to 7,325 (up 25.5%). Leaping from the data is another clear indicator of the Agencies focus on HOS. 2010 penalites for Part 395 violations were $13.1M, up from $11.7M in 2009 resulting in fully 37% of enforcement fines involving HOS (part 395). Stay tuned for some new information linking $ to CSA.
Wednesday Walk-Through Video Now Available!
Hey everyone – The weekly Wednesday Walk-Through now has a video posted! Many Vigillo customers have attended these free one-hour Vigillo product overview webinars and the feedback has been great. You can REGISTER HERE to attend a live Wednesday Walk-Through.
OR…now you or your team can watch the Wednesday Walk-Through video any time at all. Here it is:
Wednesday Walkthrough
View more videos from Vigillo LLC
If the video is not appearing above, click HERE to view video