Report quantifies non-preventable crash impact

Nov. 11, 2015

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has released its latest CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability program) research entitled Assessing the Impact of Non-Preventable Crashes on CSA Scores.

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has released its latest CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability program) research entitled Assessing the Impact of Non-Preventable Crashes on CSA Scores.

In this analysis, ATRI investigated the impact that excluding non-preventable crashes would have on motor carrier CSA Crash Indicator BASIC (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category) measures. The analysis used carrier crash records, mapped to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Motor Carrier Management Information System database, to identify a small subset of non-preventable crashes with these causes:

•Animal collision

•Other vehicle hits legally parked truck

•Other vehicle ran a stoplight/sign and hit a truck

•Driver of the other vehicle was DUI

•Truck-assisted suicide

The ATRI analysis then removed these crashes and “recalculated” the Crash Indicator BASIC measure. Among the more than one dozen carriers in ATRI’s analysis, the Crash Indicator BASIC decreased nearly 15% once the non-preventable crash subset was removed.

Beyond BASIC score impacts, these non-preventable crashes exact a toll on motor carriers and commercial drivers. ATRI’s analysis documents these impacts in detail, including real-world crash examples collected from the industry. It also estimates non-preventable crash costs that exceed $68 million for the 15 carriers in the analysis.

A copy of this report is available at www.atri-online.org.