The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation has released a long-awaited report documenting an audit of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) SafeStat scoring system.

The Safety Status Measurement System (SafeStat) shows the safety performance of individual companies. The FMCSA uses SafeStat to determine which companies should be targeted for compliance reviews and roadside inspections.
The audit was requested by Rep. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., chairman of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, in August 2002 after ATA communicated serious concerns with the SafeStat system to him.
Petri asked the DOT Inspector General's office to investigate whether the SafeStat data system is effective in targeting high-risk carriers for safety reviews.
The IG found that while SafeStat generally calculated scores consistently with its design, there are "material weaknesses in the SafeStat data" reported by states and motor carriers and with the "FMCSA processes for correcting and disclosing data problems."
The IG further commented that "although we support SafeStat's continued use as an internal risk management tool, the types and magnitude of data problems we found argue for immediate and effective action to correct data problems. The most serious concern is the continued public dissemination of motor carrier rankings for the accident evaluation area, given the incompleteness of crash data."
ATA plans to support the recommendations in the report and will continue to work with both FMCSA and Congress to ensure the identified problems are addressed expeditiously.
For more information, contact the ATA Safety and Operations department at (703) 838-1847.