The trucking world is filled with confusing things. The regulations are many and the letters – FMCSA, CSA, SMS, DOT – can cause real befuddlement. Three letters in particular, SMS, are extremely important. They stand for Safety Measurement System. We’ll explain what the trucking SMS is all about by answering a few common questions about it.
Trucking
What’s happening with truck driver turnover with COVID-19?
The coronavirus pandemic has definitely led to a lot of changes and challenges – there’s no denying that. Pretty much everyone and everything has been affected by the pandemic. One thing that was impacted by COVID-19 is the driver turnover rate in the trucking industry, an interesting effect of the virus: the turnover rate in the trucking world dropped during the second quarter.
Read moreWhat’s happening with truck driver turnover with COVID-19?
What New Entrants need to know about safety audits
If you are a New Entrant, you have to go through a safety audit within the first year of operation. But what exactly is that, and what does it mean? What happens during the audit? What violations could cause an automatic failure of the audit? And what happens if you pass your audit – or if you fail your audit? We’ll answer those questions so you know what to expect from safety audits.
What’s the New Entrant Program website?
If you’re new to the trucking world, you probably have a lot of questions. That’s okay! The FMCSA has a lot of helpful information for new entrants. There’s a lot to find out and a lot to learn, but fortunately you can find out more with the New Entrant Program website. That’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the trucking and registration-related information you need. We’ll explain a handful of the sections on the New Entrant Program website.
Information systems the FMCSA runs
The FMCSA, or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has a lot on its plate. They run a lot of different programs related to safety and they have a lot of different programs to keep track of the data they collect. Since the FMCSA’s goal is to enhance safety on the nation’s roads, a lot of information needs to be stored and organized. It can be a lot to keep it straight. At any rate, here are a few FMCSA information systems you should know about.
FMCSA Military Driver Programs
If you’re a military personnel and you’re considering moving into a civilian career, don’t forget to consider trucking. Transportation can be a great career path. There’s always a need for experienced commercial truck drivers, and the FMCSA wants to fill the jobs with CMV drivers who have experience, who are safe drivers, and who are trustworthy. (That goes along with their goal of increasing CMV safety and lowering the number of crashes involving CMVS.) That’s why the FMCSA has various programs that make it easier for military personnel to get CDLs – not to mention quicker and cheaper. We’ll explain how you can find out if you’re eligible and go over the different FMCSA Military Driver programs.
Why didn’t my MCS-150 update show up in SMS?
The trucking world is full of paperwork and regulations. The MCS-150 is something that motor carriers need to be aware of and keep up with. (There are a lot of forms and such you have to keep up with, admittedly.) But even when you are on top of everything, you might wonder why the carefully reviewed update to your MCS-150 hasn’t shown up in the SMS. We’ll go over a few things about updating that, including when to update the MCS-150 and why you might not see the changes right away.
What and where are the Safety Measurement System severity tables?
Being a motor carrier is a lot of paying attention to regulations and inspections. You might be wondering what violation severity weight is and where one could find the severity tables for the SMS. Seems like that would be something helpful to know about. Well, it has to do with BASICs and such. Here is what you need to know.
Read moreWhat and where are the Safety Measurement System severity tables?
7 things you need to know about Compliance, Safety, Accountability
The CSA, or Compliance, Safety, Accountability, is a big deal in the trucking world. It’s all about safety and prioritizing which carriers need intervention. There’s a lot to learn about the CSA. It’s helpful to have an understanding of what the CSA does and what you should expect. Here are a few things you should know about the CSA.
Read more7 things you need to know about Compliance, Safety, Accountability
CVSA International Roadcheck continues
The CVSA had postponed their International Roadcheck because of the pandemic. However, they have rescheduled the International Roadcheck, and it’s going on now. It started on Sept. 9th and will continue through Sept. 11th. (Attention has been able to shift back to inspecting drivers and vehicles now that safety standards and Out of Service criteria.)
