As we've established, there are some pretty big changes on their way in June of this year. We've looked at changes specific to drivers, changes specific to carriers, and looked at a general overview of CSA 2010. What we haven't looked at as yet is what's most important: your reactions to the matter. There are a couple threads at the ExpeditersOnline.com forums that I've pulled these quotes from, and following those, I'll list some good resources to learn more about CSA 2010 and thoughts about the changes. <br/>
As we’ve established, there are some pretty big changes on their way in June of this year. We’ve looked at changes specific to drivers, changes specific to carriers, and looked at a general overview of CSA 2010. What we haven’t looked at as yet is what’s most important: your reactions to the matter. There are a couple threads at the ExpeditersOnline.com forums that I’ve pulled these quotes from, and following those, I’ll list some good resources to learn more about CSA 2010 and thoughts about the changes.
As you might have guessed, response has been reasonably mixed on the matter–any kind of safety reporting/rating system would have to be absolutely perfect to get a consistently positive reaction, and we’re talking about a large group of people with an impressive depth of knowledge on how government safety programs have worked in the past with respect to the shipping industry.
As we’ve established, there are some pretty big changes on their way in June of this year. We’ve looked at changes specific to drivers, changes specific to carriers, and looked at a general overview of CSA 2010. What we haven’t looked at as yet is what’s most important: your reactions to the matter. There are a couple threads at the ExpeditersOnline.com forums that I’ve pulled these quotes from, and following those, I’ll list some good resources to learn more about CSA 2010 and thoughts about the changes.
As you might have guessed, response has been reasonably mixed on the matter–any kind of safety reporting/rating system would have to be absolutely perfect to get a consistently positive reaction, and we’re talking about a large group of people with an impressive depth of knowledge on how government safety programs have worked in the past with respect to the shipping industry.
Greg334, in reaction to the question, “Do you think [CSA 2010 will] work better than those that have been used in the past?” says, “No not really. This is a new reporting system, not a preventive or real corrective system. I think it was born out of the need to appease big companies and special interest groups. Unlike the DOT physical process, which identifies poor health issues that can have an effect on public safety and puts corrective action in place right from the start, this new program doesn’t identify problems until they get caught by an authority. Bad driving is not mitigated or corrected when it is needed–during training.”
In reaction to the same question, layoutshooter says, “As with anything that the government does there might be some small benefit from this.”
So, the overall takeaway from the driver community thus far has been that CSA 2010’s proposals don’t stand to improve the overall safety of the roads as much as they purport to. Rather, CSA 2010 appears to be a solid system of tracking and reporting safety transgressions, but it’s impossible to tell at the moment exactly how well-executed the program will be–and what the ultimate effects of CSA 2010 will be as a result of this execution. Which isn’t to say that there haven’t been questions about this, or predictions as to how well the program will work.
In a different ExpeditersOnline.com forum thread, Greg 334 discussed having been in a conference call regarding CSA 2010 with FMCSA and noted a potential hole in terms of how interventions are conducted and addressed. He says, “FMCSA is failing to look at training and preventative measures, not post problem corrective measures. It is a step backwards when most of the safety and accident problems seem to be partially based on poor training or reinforcing bad driving behaviors.”
In a blog post written by Phil Madsen at http://www.successfulexpediters.com, he sees CSA 2010 as a boon for drivers able to maintain a good safety record under the rules, and bad news for drivers unable to keep their scores up. According to him, though, it isn’t all roses “Sadly, there are not as many good drivers out there as are necessary to haul all the freight there is to haul. Carriers have previously resolved this shortfall by hiring scum-of-the-earth drivers at low pay to move trucks.”
One thing in all this, though, is undeniable: things are going to change. A lot. “Under CSA 2010, the scale experiences and carrier relationships of some drivers are about to change in a big, big way. One source says that CSA 2010 will render 175,000 current drivers unfit under the new rules, and thus unemployable.” If this figure of 175,000 drivers is correct, then how will carriers respond to such a sudden drop in available drivers to haul their freight?
Phil Madsen answers that, as well: “I believe that when CSA 2010 is fully implemented, that game will end. The only way for carriers to attract good drivers into the industry, and keep them, will be to improve working conditions and raise driver pay to draw good people in from other fields. The day is coming, I believe, when America will discover just how much a good truck driver is actually worth.”
Another common thread I’ve seen in terms of reactions is that numerous folks have complaints with the fact that they’re going to be tracked and issued a safety rating. The gist of the argument, as far as I can tell, seems to be that many folks feel that tracking drivers in this way allows the FMCSA a bit too much access to drivers and that rating them (and potentially taking them off the road) might go too far. I can’t say I disagree entirely with this stance, but at the same time, I don’t exactly agree with it, either. Here’s why. The overall goal of CSA 2010 is to make commercial travel safer. One of the byproducts of this, unfortunately, would (and, honestly, probably should) be that the most unsafe drivers will be taken off the road. That said, we can only hope that the above-noted figure of 175,000 drivers turns out to be wrong–because really, nobody can afford that.
CSA 2010 Resources:
http://www.successfulexpediters.com
http://www.csa2010.com
http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov/
http://www.expeditersonline.com/forum/
http://www.csa2010.com/Driver_CSA_2010_White_Paper.pdf
