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Author Archives: Marissa Hirt
Go Big or Go Home
We’re number crunchers over here at Vigillo. We eat them for breakfast… lunch… and a late afternoon snack… (dinner is non-numbers because beer goes better with real food).
Okay, so 3 square meals aside, we look at the digits all day long. For the most part, the numbers are expected and align themselves with what we know about the world around us. Sometimes, the numbers are hidden, and sneak up on us like the Chili we had the night before. You’re just humming along and then all of a sudden, “hmm… maybe I better take a minute…”
That’s what these numbers did to me. We’ve got a far more extensive data set at home with the kiddos, but I thought I’d bring out the fancy presents that got my attention. Nationally there are currently about 1.2 million fleets registered with the FMCSA. Of those fleets, only 4.4% have a public BASIC with an alert: about 56,000 fleets. Not a big deal right? Read more
Unified Registration System: Comments open
The goal of the Unified Registration System is to streamline the registration process and make it harder for “chameleon” carriers and brokers to come back to life. The system would be online, using DOT’s to identify carriers, brokers, freight forwarders, etc. Additional goals include assurances to the public that carriers have appropriate insurance on file, increase accessibility, and enable the FMCSA to more easily track insurance cancelations. The new entrant registration and those registration updates would shift to an online process with the option of doing a paper registration. All would be required to update their information every two years.
The regulations and fees have been posted and comments have been opened. Comments must be made before December 27th.
Make comments here: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FMCSA-1997-2349-0178
Check it out here: http://www.safersys.org/UCRQueryForm.aspx
Why spend money when you don’t have to?
As your HR director will tell you, recruiting is expensive. The costs of reviewing, screening, and starting someone will almost always cost you more than keeping a current employee. Thus, your HR director will also tell you, spending wisely to keep employees is a far better use of your money. (Which is not what a recruiter will tell you – job security and all…)
Safety Event Groups: And why you should care!
Safety Event Groups seems to be a huge part of CSA that appears simple, but really just add to the confusion. In August, 2010, the FMCSA shifted the methodology from Peer Groups to Safety Event Group when they stopped using Average Power Units (APU) to group fleets. This lead to a lot of concern as suddenly many fleets saw drastic shifts in their percentile rank. Why the sudden shift in rank if there wasn’t a sudden shift in performance?
Read more
Tiered Speeding: A Year Later
So… That tiered speeding… Carriers were excited in August of 2010 (yeah, a whole year ago!) when the FMCSA introduced tiered speeding with the CSA Methodology revision.
Thanksgiving with the In-Laws: The FMCSA, Shippers, Brokers, and Carriers at the Table
Recently Transport Topics published an article discussing how the FMCSA hopes they can improve safety by regulating shippers and brokers. By following the Australian model of “Chain of Responsibility,” the FMCSA hopes to curb those shippers that strong-arm motor carriers and drivers to take loads they should not due to HOS, size and weight, or authority constraints. In Australia, this model was adopted, “out of a recognition that unlawful behavior by truck drivers is influenced and often controlled by the actions of other parties (Wikipedia Chain of Responsibility).” Read more
Drivers under CSA
Since the announcement of CSA, there has been a lot of attention focused on drivers. For good reason! The whole of the CSA methodology is centered on roadside inspections and driver behaviors. There are two portions of the CSA methodology: the Carrier Safety Measurement System (CSMS) and the Driver Safety Measurement System (DSMS). Recently, there has been a lot of speculation about what the FMCSA will do with the DSMS. Here’s how it stands today!
CSA: Not Just for OTR Carriers!
The FMCSA announced that in May, over 3,000 passenger carrier safety inspections were conducted over a two week period. Additionally, they initiated 38 full safety compliance reviews on commercial passenger bus companies. For details, see the FMCSA’s press release.
This is in line with the FMCSA’s clear desire to have more stringent passenger-carrier safety standards. As earlier this month they announced they are focusing on passenger carriers to align themselves with the Federal Regulations and will be giving consumers tools to check the safety records before riding with them. Like this handy dandy little online tool.
Now let’s see them come out with an app for that.
Marissa! Sales Rep Extraordinaire
Many of you know me previously as the Vigillo Sales Administrator. I was the person you called when you had questions about your account, CSA, the Scorecards, and what to do/see when you got to Oregon. Oh wait, I still do that! But, I have recently been promoted to Sales Representative. I look forward to being a more active member of the trucking community as a representative of Vigillo. (I look forward to meeting some of you face to face!)
My background has been primarily in sales, after graduating from Lewis & Clark College with a degree in Psychology, I’ve held many roles in sales for a few different companies before finding a home with Vigillo. In my personal life, I spend as much time as possible with my dog, Jake, outside (weather permitting). I have also been known to feed large groups of people and bring in cupcakes!