SafeStat Once More: This Will Take Some Time
It'll be the end of summer before fleets get relief from public exposure of bad data.
Those improvements to SafeStat — the government web site that reports motor carriers' accident data — are moving forward to mixed reviews by fleet managers. We've received complaints from some that as of mid-June, the site still carries the data as public information. That's been one of the system's problems. Shippers, insurance companies, investors and competitors have been able to access carriers' accident data that are notoriously flawed by poor reporting, particularly by some states.
The feds announced in late May that the accident Safety Evaluation Area and overall SafeStat scores will be "temporarily" removed from the site by the end of summer (story, page 26). So it's going to take longer than previously indicated, but there have been improvements.
For one, you can make corrections to bad data in your file. Moe Tetreault, who manages hazmat hauler Abenaqui Carriers, says he won an appeal to have a five-mph fender-bender removed from his company's record.
"The other vehicle was towed because of a broken seat," he says, "yet no one knew if the seat was broken prior (to the accident)."
Both driver and passenger of the car were over 75 years old, he says, "So I raised the question of the vehicle being towed as a precaution based on age. No one had an answer. The bottom line is, the information should not have shown up on SafeStat until the reporting authorities had asked and answered these questions."
DataQs, the new electronic system designed to help you to seek corrections to bad information in your file, should make appeals easier. It's supposed to give you access to both the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and state agencies to point out (and hopefully fix) bogus data.
You can also help yourself avoid problems by filing MCS-150 Motor Carrier Identification Report updates periodically.
An especially interesting new SafeStat item is its map that shows which states are doing the best — and worst — jobs of accident reporting. It rates them in five areas under three main categories: Completeness; Timeliness, and Accuracy.
States are rated as Good, Fair or Poor. The worst states? Florida flunks in all three categories; Pennsylvania flunks in two of the three and gets only a "fair" in the third.
Other losers: Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont.
You can check out the state ratings online yourself on the SafeStat site by clicking the State Safety Data Quality Analysis box on the home page.
Maybe this will help embarrass some states into performing better; maybe not. FMCSA says it is working to put some teeth into convincing them to do a better job.
We think the best method is the old tried-and-true: Simply hold up the non-performers' federal funding.
Doug Condra
President
E-mail Doug Condra at dcondra@truckinginfo.com, or write PO Box W. Newport Beach, Calif. 92656.
