FMCSA & Auto Transport Safety

December of 2010 saw the nationwide launch of a new statistical safety initiative by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) – the Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) program.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or FMCSA

The FMCSA is a federal body under the Department of Transportation whose mission it is to research and draft safety regulations for the nation's motor carriers, such as trucking companies, automobile transport carriers, bus line operators and others. The body decrees, for example, the maximum number of hours that truck drivers can spend on the road before taking a break in order to reduce distracted driving incidents, and regulates the amount of time that trucks can spend idling, due to environmental concerns.

The Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) Program

The CSA program is a statistical scoring system that will replace an older model, SafeStat. The CSA will assign a numerical score to each motor carrier in seven categories, called "Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories" (BASICs). These include: Fatigued Driving, Unsafe Driving, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Cargo-Related and Crash Indicator.

Each time a violation is reported for a carrier, it's recorded in the FMCSA database, which will be accessible by the public. The scores will range from 0 to 100; somewhat counterintuitively, a score of 100 is the worst possible, while 0 is the best.

There are three major aspects of the auto transport safety program: Measurement, Evaluation and Intervention. Measurement involves recalibrated score calculation based on the several BASIC categories, as well as Safety Fitness Determination methodology to interpret reported incidents and determine their severity for traffic safety. Evaluation implies a data-driven interpretation and predictive identification of behavior patterns of motor carriers that may imply a lack of proper safety protocols or lax safety supervision. Finally, intervention takes the form of both sanctions and other steps to ensure compliance and warn motor carriers about the consequences of habitual

The program begun implementation in February 2008 with field tests in in Colorado, Georgia, Missouri and New Jersey. The following year, five more states were added; finally, over the weekend of December 11, 2010, the program went nationwide.

Our Commitment to Automobile Transportation Safety

All Universal Auto Transport carriers take transport safety very seriously and are well-rated by the most up-to-date FMCSA metrics. We are dedicated to both the safety of your vehicle and other traffic, and take pains to comply with all federal rules concerning transportation. We are concerned about maintaining a good reputation and always take the most stringent precautions to make sure that our customers are served well, and that their vehicles arrive to the destination safely and in their original condition.

Vehicle Transportation Research Tools and Links

Compliance, Safety, Accountability    

Use this link to stay up to date on CSA reports and news.

SAFER System     Safety and Fitness Electronic Records System

SaferSys.org enables you to review the safety record and determine the licensing and insurance status of Department of Transportation (DOT) registered transportation services.

Rate My Transport - Review websites that offer ratings and reviews of transports of auto transport brokers and carriers.