This submit is a part of a collection sponsored by IAT Insurance coverage Group.

The Federal Motor Provider Security Administration (FMCSA) is bringing Accident Recordkeeping Necessities again to the longer term.

Retired after the Compliance, Security, and Accountability (CSA) program was initiated over a decade in the past, the FMCSA is hoping to revive the Accident Recordkeeping Necessities to assist the Administration higher assess the protection of on-the-road autos and probably discover avenues to stop and cut back the severity of future accidents.

As a sign of what strong information-gathering can do for security, the American Transportation Analysis Institute experiences that crashes decreased by 7%, and hours-of-service violations went down by almost 17%, between the 2018 introduction of the Digital Log Gadget and 2022.^[1]

Feedback on the brand new necessities might be accepted till October 10, 2023, however with the American Trucking Affiliation and different business stakeholders supporting its renewal, there’s each indication Accident Recordkeeping Necessities will finally turn out to be a rule.^[2]

No matter when the brand new Accident Recordkeeping Necessities turn out to be a rule, sustaining a sturdy accident monitoring evaluation instrument is helpful to all fleets, each giant and small, because it:

• Provides a deeper understanding of the foundation causes of accidents and violations,
• Can decide prices,
• And drive insights on how greatest to forestall them

Constructing a easy accident monitoring and evaluation instrument

Constructing a instrument that goes past what’s DOT-reportable to incorporate all incidents, together with near-misses, might help fleets determine conduct that drives losses or potential losses, and different contributing elements, together with cargo and employee’s compensation claims.

For instance, a fleet may discover numerous lane-change and merging accidents, which could imply it’s value equipping present vehicles with lane-departure warning techniques or buying new autos which have them.

Constructing a instrument doesn’t require an funding in new software program. Fleets can use a spreadsheet or digital monitoring instruments to seize and arrange all pertinent data. Contemplate together with the next information factors in your trending and evaluation report, a lot of that are already being collected by fleets:

• A short description of the incident. Develop your state of affairs of the accident, and what the contributing elements could possibly be.
• Contemplate whether or not the accident is DOT-recordable. That would come with if there have been a fatality (no matter fault), if the insured driver is cited for the accident, if somebody goes to the hospital, or if the automobile is towed and the driving force is cited. Additionally, use this to make sure you’re in compliance with drug and alcohol testing.
• Contributing elements. File something that would have had an impression on the incident corresponding to driver fatigue, driver was misplaced, the driving force was over hours, the driving force was impaired, climate situations, time of day, day of the week, visibility, site visitors stage, street situations, location, inspection particulars. To expedite the gathering of the info, a fleet can obtain the SMS (security measurement system) that feeds into CSA.
• Prices related to the accident. Monitor any prices that the fleet and/or its insurers bore due to an accident, together with insurance coverage deductibles, uninsured prices, coaching and hiring, offboarding related to having to dismiss a driver, rental to exchange a truck whereas it’s being repaired, or any cash that modified fingers due to the accident.
• Monitor preventable accidents and non-preventable accidents. This goes past who the insurer says was at fault. Observe whether or not there have been cheap actions that would have been taken, corresponding to honking the horn or extra rapidly making use of the brakes, to stop an accident.
• Put up-accident, consequential actions. The purpose of gathering this data is to supply insights into post-accident, consequential actions that would cut back the danger of additional incidents. Is a sure driver the problem? Ought to the upkeep program be enhanced? Ought to a sure buyer be dropped as a result of their necessities have led to extra accidents?

The significance of gathering information just isn’t merely within the data itself, however the tales it tells you about what is going on along with your fleet. Collectively they are going to hopefully enable you to run a safer operation — and maybe a less expensive one, too.

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By Chris Parker and Nancy Ross-Anderson

[1] American Transportation Analysis Institute, “Predicting Truck Crash Involvement: 2022 Replace,” October 2022

[2] Transport Matters, “FMCSA to Renew Plans for Carriers to Maintain Accident Data,” Aug. 8, 2023

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