FMCSA to target bus safety violations

WASHINGTON — Unsafe commercial bus operators are to be targeted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration through a program to be called Compliance Safety Accountability.

The agency said the program will include an analysis of safety-based violations — including safety inspections and crash data — to determine the least safe carriers. “Corrective intervention” will follow, said the FMCSA.

The safety-based analysis will utilize seven safety improvement categories to examine a carrier’s on-road performance and potential crash risk: Unsafe driving, fatigued driving (based on hours-of-service violations), driver fitness, drug/alcohol violations, vehicle maintenance, cargo-related accidents and vehicle crash history.

“By looking at a carrier’s safety violations in each category, the FMCSA and state law enforcement will be better equipped to identify carriers with patterns of high-risk behaviors and apply interventions that provide carriers the information necessary to change unsafe practices early on,” said the agency.