Every year roughly 100,000 fatal and injury crashes occur in the United States involving large
trucks and buses. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in the U.S.
Department of Transportation works to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large
trucks and buses. FMCSA uses information that is collected on the frequency of approximately
900 different violations of safety regulations discovered during (mainly) roadside inspections
to assess motor carriers’ compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, as
well as to evaluate their compliance in comparison with their peers. Through use of this
information, FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) identifies carriers to receive its
available interventions in order to reduce the risk of crashes across all carriers. Improving
Motor Carrier Safety Measurement examines the effectiveness of the use of the percentile
ranks produced by SMS for identifying high-risk carriers, and if not, what alternatives might
be preferred.
Find the full report here