The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in a report card on its long-term effort to improve the commercial driver license program, says there still is work to be done to improve the timeliness of reporting and data security.


The agency found that the state motor vehicle departments are still experiencing delays in posting traffic convictions in the driver history data base - a key shortcoming in a system that is intended to pinpoint drivers who perhaps should not be on the road.

Among the 500,000 commercial drivers with out-of-state convictions, about 20 percent were not posted on the Commercial Driver's License Information System in a timely way, the agency said.

Some states have addressed the reporting problem by automating the electronic interchange of data between courts and motor vehicle departments, but there still are delays, the agency said.

Another problem is that the information system is not as secure as it should be. The agency said that it the state motor vehicle departments still need to improve the process: user names and passwords have been transmitted without encryption, and the CDLIS web site is vulnerable to hacking.

Also, the agency said, it does not yet have a contingency and disaster recovery plan for access to the system.

The agency is calling on states to submit action plans for correcting the problem of late posting of convictions, and is working to develop an encryption mechanism and policies for security.