The heart of the new CSA program is the Safety Measurement System (SMS). This is the tool used to analyze the data taken from all crash and inspection violations. From the SMS, a commercial motor carrier's on-road performance will be determined. Certain penalties may extend to truck drivers and affect their trucking careers if they are more serious in nature.

The basis of the SMS is the following: Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service), Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Cargo-Related and Crash Indicator.

Tested in nine pilot states before its December 2010 launch, the new 2010 program aims to deliver more safety interventions faster with the goal to keep road safety on truck jobs a priority at all times. Ray LaHood, DOT Secretary said, “The CSA program will help us more easily identify unsafe commercial truck and bus companies. Better data and targeted enforcement will raise the safety bar for commercial carriers and empower them to take action before safety problems occur."

This certainly has trucking companies putting the proper safety personnell in place to make sure they are taking all of the necessary precautions to avoid any violations.  It has been almost a month since this program has officially rolled out and it's going to be interesting to see how the industry continues to respond to the changes.  To learn more about the new CSA program, go to http://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/.