The American Transportation Research Institute has released a new white paper showing a majority of the nation’s truck drivers do not have an understanding of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance Safety and Accountability program. CSA was rolled out nationally just over three years ago after it was a pilot program in several states.

On average, drivers responded to the CSA knowledge test with 42.4% accuracy, suggesting that after three years of implementation drivers do not have a clear understanding of CSA, according to ATRI. However, it says, on a more positive note, carrier-provided CSA training has increased steadily since 2011, while driver job security concerns due to CSA have decreased by almost 10% over the three-year period.

Approximately 7,800 driver responses were analyzed over a three-year period examining perceptions, attitudes and knowledge of CSA.

Among enforcement personnel, respondents performed with 66.5% accuracy on the CSA knowledge test. ATRI partnered with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to obtain a baseline level of enforcement personnel knowledge of CSA

“ATRI is expanding on this study’s findings by investigating driver CSA training content and frequency and the relationship these variables have to CSA knowledge,” the group says. “In addition, the enforcement personnel results provide a platform for further evaluation of enforcement personnel CSA knowledge and the potential impacts this may have on enforcement activities.

ATRI is the non-profit research arm of the American Trucking Associations.

A copy of this report is available from the ATRI website.