Brain and Spine Injury Law Blog : Brain and Spine Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Tim Titolo Law Office : Personal Injury & Wrongful Death : Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Accident: Las Vegas, Nevada

The U. S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is pleased to announce the next step in the rollout of Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010).

CSA 2010 Data Preview
Commercial motor vehicle carriers may now view their individual safety assessments on the Data Preview Website. This updated Website provides motor carriers with information on where they stand in each Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) based on roadside data and investigation findings. Each motor carrier’s BASIC assessments are visible only to them (and to enforcement staff) until December of 2010. In December, assessments will be made available to the public. Also, enforcement agencies will use these assessments to prioritize the Agency’s enforcement and compliance assistance workload. By providing carriers with this information now, FMCSA’s approach gives carriers the earliest possible opportunity to improve compliance.

FMCSA is providing motor carriers with this early look at the new Safety Measurement System (SMS) so they can see their performance data, can address safety compliance issues right away and can update and verify their data online. Release of this safety performance information underscores FMCSA’s commitment to data integrity and the motor carrier industry’s responsibility for ensuring commercial vehicle safety. This important step is designed to allow motor carriers to identify and address unsafe behaviors that can lead to crashes. What can motor carriers do now to prepare for the new system? Motor carriers should look at their assessment on the Data Preview Website, identify any data mistakes, verify and update their motor carrier census data, in particular power units (PU) and vehicle miles travelled (VMT) on the MCS-150 form, and take the necessary steps to correct unsafe driver and/or company safety practices.

Last year I handled a case where one motor carrier failed to review another hired motor carrier's Safe Stat scores which hovered around a 97 which put it in the bottom 3%.  This type of negligent, even reckless. behavior may be reduced with new procedures like the new regulations being tested and passed. 

Conservative Republicans scream "no government regulation" until one of their own is critically injured in a crash with a semi tractor trailer.  Without regulation, truck corporations are governed by only one thing - profit.

More Information
Complete details on the Data Preview are available through Data Preview Guidance (FAQs), the new SMS Methodology Version 2.0 and SMS Changes Explanation. FMCSA has responded to field test results and stakeholder feedback to improve SMS.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was created in 1980 to regulate big rig, tractor and trailer trucks. These regulations spell out the responsibilities of drivers and expectations of the public who drive on the roads with these trucks. An attorney must be not only familiar with these regulations but fluent in them.

The trend of trucking deregulation that started over 20 years ago has not materially changed original regulatory schemes governing required insurance and financial responsibility. Motor carriers operating under federal permits and intrastate carriers operating under state authority must still secure liability coverage in order to maintain an operating permit or otherwise provide proof of ability to self insure. Typically statutory coverage of this nature is implemented through a two-part process which involves a public filing and an endorsement. Motor carriers or their insurers will make a filing with the appropriate agency as proof that insurance coverage has been issued conforming to the applicable regulation or statute. The endorsement conforms the motor carrier's coverage to the relevant requirements of the law governing the truckers' operations. In this manner, the insurance is extended to protect the public from accidents or negligent operations.
 

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The New York Times reported:

Patients who received a bioengineered protein during spinal fusion procedures to correct neck pain had far more complications than patients who did not get it, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study, published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, reinforces previous concerns about the use of the proteins in fusion procedures to treat upper spine, or cervical, pain.
 

Read more by clicking here.

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