With so much at stake with the new CSA 2010 initiative and not enough education on the subject, here are a few facts to consider:

• Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010) does not give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) the authority to remove 175,000 drivers from their jobs and cannot be used to rate drivers or to revoke a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). FMCSA does not have the authority to take those actions. Only State agencies responsible for issuing licenses, CDL or otherwise, have the authority to suspend them. CSA 2010 does introduce a driver safety assessment tool to help enforcement staff evaluate drivers’ safety as part of motor carrier investigations.
• Using the new Safety Measurement System (SMS), FMCSA continues to hold motor carriers responsible for the job performance of those who work for them. Therefore, motor carriers are held accountable for their drivers’ errors such as speeding. This is a longstanding FMCSA position and is not unique to CSA 2010 or the new SMS.
• Carriers who are considering hiring drivers can review "Driver Profiles" if the drivers have authorized the release of their information. These profiles are compiled from FMCSA’s Driver Information Resource (DIR) and will be available to carriers through FMCSA’s new Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP). Drivers can view their own profiles. PSP is only available as a pre-screening tool and not for use in evaluating current drivers. PSP was mandated by Congress and is not a part of CSA 2010.
• While some third party vendors are developing and marketing CSA 2010 driver scorecards, consumers should know that these companies do not have access to the driver violation histories in the FMCSA databases despite some claims that they do. FMCSA has not and will not validate any vendors’ scorecards or data. Also, keep in mind that the SMS is subject to change prior to its launch in response to the test results.
• Potentially erroneous violations on carrier/driver records can be submitted for review. The DataQs system (https://dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov), which does not change under CSA 2010, allows motor carriers and drivers to make a Request for Data Review (RDR) of information that resides in FMCSA databases such as crash and inspection reports.