TIA Industry Professionals Advising the FMCSA

Darin Day, General Counsel at Tucker Company Worldwide, has replaced Tucker’s CEO, Jeff Tucker, as TIA’s only Broker Representative on the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC). Darin recently spoke about the importance of industry professionals advising the FMCSA.

“This is the one place…the most effective place…where the industry can have an impact on the rules that are being proposed by the FMCSA and the way that the CSA program is developing,” he said.

Darin’s presence on the TIA Committee helps to bring some balance to the table in Washington – the perspective of a 3PL Provider who is also a TIA member – which enables all parties involved to accomplish their respective goals.

“We all care about safety,” he continued. “Everybody wants as few accidents, incidents, deaths of course, on the highways as possible. But at the same time, the whole point of the transportation industry is to get important goods to people on time, efficiently, and in a way that doesn’t slow down commerce.”

Learn more and watch the full feature on TIA TV here.

FMCSA ADMINISTRATOR FERRO NAMES TUCKER TO CSA SUBCOMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS TO FMCSA

Administrator Ferro named Jeff Tucker to the CSA Subcommittee of the Agency’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC). Tucker was selected from many applicants, due in part to his work with the TIA Carrier Selection Framework and many years serving as an advocate and educator in the area of motor carrier safety and shipper and broker liability.

There have been four meetings of the MCSAC subcommittee since October 2012. The subcommittee is comprised of bus operators, state police officials, a truck insurance firm, a large motor carrier, a bus operator, a bus driver union representative, a representative from an owner operator’s group, and two professional safety advocates. Senior FMCSA officials attend and participate in the meetings. 

      On April 9, 2013, the MCSAC agreed to pass to FMCSA the CSA Subcommittee’s recommendations for improvement to the CSA system.  Tucker remains baffled that the agency didn’t recognize and act on the obvious need for these changes long ago, but we believe certain elements within FMCSA have internal agendas that outweigh reason and due process. Those elements seem to be ruling the day.  We hope this partial list of recommendations will begin to turn the tide: 

1. For a carrier’s Crash BASIC, exclude crashes where there is a clear determination that the carrier was not at fault or (in the language of the regulations), the crash was non-preventable. (e.g., don’t penalize the carrier when a car runs into it while the truck was stopped at a red light) 
2. Evaluate changing the definition of reportable DOT crash for purposes of CSA to include only fatalities or injuries (e.g., exclude deer kills where no cars or people were involved).
3. Remove CSA scores from public view (their purpose is exclusively law enforcement) or, at a minimum, remove the Controlled Substance/Alcohol and Driver Fitness BASICs. (Carriers with higher scores in two (2) BASICs are involved in fewer accidents than carriers with lower scores!). 
4. FMCSA should standardize the data it gathers from the individual 50 states. 
5. FMCSA should not encourage non-law enforcement personnel (e.g., shippers, brokers, insurance companies, etc.) to use CSA data for carrier selection, and should not provide “guidance” on using CSA data to determine a carrier’s “qualification” for use.  The purpose of SMS is exclusively for internal law enforcement prioritization.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JEFFREY TUCKER APPOINTED TO FMCSA SUBCOMMITTEE

Cherry Hill, NJ USA, February 15, 2013

Jeffrey Tucker, CEO of Tucker Company Worldwide (www.tuckerco.com ) was appointed to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) CSA Subcommittee.  Mr. Tucker was appointed by FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro.  CSA “Compliance, Safety, Accountability” is FMCSA’s initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities related to commercial motor vehicles.

The CSA subcommittee is a panel of 19 subject matter experts including motor carriers, bus companies, safety advocate groups and trade associations. These industry officials, as members of the MCSAC CSA Subcommittee provide counsel to FMCSA on a variety of issues relating to the design, implementation and efficacy of the CSA program.

CSA introduces a new enforcement and compliance model that allows FMCSA and its State partners to identify and contact a larger number of motor carriers who may need to address compliance and/or safety concerns.

Jeff is the CEO of Tucker Company Worldwide, Inc.; CEO & Co-Founder of Qualifiedcarriers.com, and has chaired the TIA Carrier Selection Framework Committee since 2006. Jeff has testified on CSA before Congress.

Tucker Company Worldwide, Inc. is America’s oldest privately held freight broker, and is based in Cherry Hill, NJ. Tucker specializes in arranging shipments of high value, high security, climate controlled and otherwise sensitive materials for some of the world’s best known brands. Tucker is active in its trade association and serves on a select committee reviewing motor carrier safety for the U. S. Department of Transportation. Tucker has been a first responder supporting the government with trucking of relief supplies for most of the nation’s natural and manmade disasters in the last 30 years.

Contact: Jeff Tucker, CEO; jefft@tuckerco.com ; 856-317-9600 ext. 122; mobile: 856-498-5361 ###