The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has scheduled a public meeting for Sept. 8 to solicit comments on recommendations on reforming the agency’s Carrier, Safety, Accountability enforcement regime made by the National Academies of Science.

The NAS review, which had been mandated by Congress, was released back on June 27.

FMCSA is now required by the FAST Act highway bill to develop and implement an action plan “to address any identified deficiencies [by NSA] and submit it to Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Office of Inspector General.”

The National Academies  recommended replacing the CSA;s current Safety Measurement System over the next two years with a method using "item response theory," also known as latent trait theory.

FMCSA should develop a “more statistically principled approach” for the task, NAS said, based on an item response theory (IRT) model. Also known as latent trait theory, it’s an approach that has been used for policy decisions in other areas such as hospital rankings. 

The public meeting will take place on Friday, September 8, 2017, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., EDT, at the FMCSA National Training Center, 1310 N. Courthouse Road, Suite 600, Arlington, VA 22201–2508.

Those interested in attending the public meeting must register at: https:// www.regonline.com/FMCSA_ Correlation_Study_Action_ PlanPublicMeeting. Participants have the option of registering to attend in person, or via webinar.

A copy of the agenda for the meeting will be available in advance of the meeting at https:// www.regonline.com/FMCSA_ Correlation_Study_Action_ PlanPublicMeeting.  The agency noted that “If all interested participants have had an opportunity to comment, the meeting may conclude early.”

Comments on the action plan to be driven by the NSA report-- in any form-- must be received by September 27, 2017.

Besides attending the publci meeting, comments may be submitted under Docket Number FMCSA–2017–0226 using any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590–0001

• Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12– 140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. E.T., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251

Related: Report Recommends Improvements to CSA Scoring System