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Author Archives: Sloan Morris
Webinar: How Will The Upcoming HazMat Changes Affect You?
Big Changes Ahead!
Steve Bryan, CEO of Vigillo, will walk through the proposed CSA methodology changes (SMS 3.0). These include a new Hazardous Materials BASIC, eliminating the Cargo-Related BASIC, and adjustments to violations and severity weights. These changes impact all carriers, HAZMAT and Non-HAZMAT. Read about the changes here (PDF). Take an hour out of your busy day for the latest news on FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.
Sign up by clicking the “Register here” link below:
| Webinar: Upcoming HazMat Changes with Steve Bryan |
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| Date | Pacific | Mountain | Central | Eastern | Registration Link |
| Tues, May 22 | 10 am | 11 am | Noon | 1 pm | Register here |
http://bit.ly/KtsdYN
CSA Crash Policy in the Spotlight
Back in March of this year, the FMCSA stopped the work on its Crash Accountability Panel – read more here and here. Now, Transport Topics staff report Michele Fuetsch has written a troubling article outlining negative industry feedback to the FMCSA policy under CSA for crashes. Specifically, crashes are posted under a carrier’s CSA data, regardless of the fault of the driver or carrier. An excerpt:
Royce Brooks, an experienced tank truck driver, was hauling gasoline to Lockhart, Texas, south of Austin, when a BMW driver blew through a stop sign and a flashing red light. The car hit the tanker truck with such force that Texas State Police said the rig went into a ditch, spun around, flipped and burst into flames, killing Brooks, 41. Read more
What’s a Clean Inspection Worth?
So…You read the title. How much is a clean inspection worth? What do you think? Some motor carriers have driver incentive programs: Get $50 for each clean inspection, for example. That is certainly one way to measure it. I am talking about something else though. Specifically, what is the impact of a clean inspection under CSA?
Vigillo has been helping transportation professionals better understand CSA since the first methodology was published in 2010. I’ll tell you some of the misconceptions I’ve heard. More importantly, let’s really unravel it. Let’s dig deep and lay out exactly what the effect (or non-effect in some cases) that a zero-defect inspection has on a motor carrier’s CSA score. The answers may surprise you. Read more
Survey: 65% of carriers using multiple methods for CSA
New survey results released: 65% of carriers are using three or more methods to comply with CSA says a new survey from Transport Capital Partners. The three methods most commonly used are:
1. Training for drivers so they understand how CSA can
affect their careers (78.1 percent)
2. Changing how sub-performing driving is monitored (63.2 percent)
3. Investing in technology to help monitor CSA (55.3 percent)
Other methods used are:
- Have an on-staff CSA manager
- Hire retired state police
- Invest in electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs)
Click HERE to see article in TheTrucker.com for more details.
The New ISS – What You Need To Know (Part 4)
This is the final post in my series on the new ISS Scores. Links to previous parts below:
- PART 1: What is ISS? Why does it matter? What changed? How does it work?
- PART 2: The Seven Main ISS Groupings – what they are and how they work
- PART 3: How carriers with “Insufficient Data” are treated under the new ISS
In this final post, I will discuss how to lower your ISS score.
How To Improve Your ISS Score
In a nutshell, to lower your ISS score, simply do the following:
Have sufficient data,
don’t have serious violations, and
keep your BASICs below threshold.
In other words, simply reverse engineer the ISS methodology. Now, is that advice particularly helpful? I didn’t think so. It’s similar to encouraging a student to get better grades by getting better test scores. A response from a typical teenager to that advice would no doubt be “duh!” So let’s get to the real question…How best to ensure (1) I have sufficient data, (2) avoid serious violations, and (3) keep my BASICs below threshold? Now you’re talking! (I said to myself) Let’s take it piece by piece. Read more
Truck Drivers Asked To Weigh In On CSA
Drivers – what do you think of CSA? How has it affected you? What’s working well…and what isn’t? A new survey is being conducted by ATRI (The American Transportation Research Institute) about CSA and drivers.
From ATRI: The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) today launched its second annual truck driver survey to identify CSA impacts on trucking operations, as well as commercial driver perceptions and attitudes toward the maturing regulatory program. This survey, which will expand upon the truck driver research that ATRI undertook at last month’s Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), will be compared and contrasted with last year’s CSA research – which included data from more than 5,000 drivers (report available online at www.atri-online.org).
Read more here.
Truck Drivers: Take the survey here.
Interesting to see what the results will be! Stay tuned – we’ll let you know when they are released.
Update: Driver Mike Schiotis – 2011 North America Highway Hero
You may have seen the original story regarding Panther’s driver Mike Schiotis. I wrote a blog post about it previously here. Now he wins Driver of the year. The other 3 finalists stories are mentioned too. Congratulations to Mike and these other fine citizens of the road! Read the Truckinginfo.com article about this latest news by clicking the link below:
http://truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=76459&news_category_id=9
Carrier Select Webinar: What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You
FREE webinar: Learn more about Carrier Select in this 45 minute walk-through!
- Find details about your partner carriers, competitors, and client fleets.
- Save time from searching multiple FMCSA databases for these gems of information.
- Know a fleet’s key CSA info and more, including Carrier Safety Rating, CSA Percentile Ranks, and Crash Count before you do business with them.
- Get notified if a competitor’s fleet has a high driver OOS inspection rate!
With this walk-through of Carrier Select, Vigillo’s own Marissa Hirt will walk you through Carrier Select benefits, usage, and system setup – including how to create your own benchmarks based on custom criteria.
Sign up for the date and time of your choice:
CSA By The Numbers Webinar – Slides & Recording Available!
Thanks to the hundreds who registered and attended the CSA By the Numbers Webinar this week. The video recording and slides are below. Enjoy!
VIDEO RECORDING:
View on YouTube
New Webinar: CSA By The Numbers!
What are the key trends and insights you should know about the constantly changing world of CSA? What does the future hold? Find out!
WEBINAR: CSA BY THE NUMBERS!
Vigillo presents a free complimentary hour-long webinar on CSA By the Numbers: trends, anomalies, unexpected twists and turns and…what to expect in the future! All presented by Vigillo’s CEO, Steve Bryan.
UPDATE: Webinar slides & recording available HERE.
Sign up for the date and time of your choice:
| Webinar: CSA By The Numbers with Steve Bryan |
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| Date | Pacific | Mountain | Central | Eastern | Registration Link |
| Wed, Feb 15 | Noon | 1pm | 2pm | 3pm | Completed |
| Thurs, Feb 16 | 8:30am | 9:30am | 10:30am | 11:30am | Completed |