FMCSA supports National Academies' proposed new SMS model

At a July 18 congressional hearing, Daphne Jefferson, deputy administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, confirmed that the agency supports the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommendation that FMCSA adopt an Item Response Theory (IRT) model over the next two years to replace the current methodology for the Safety Measurement System. “FMCSA is now working with NAS, and will be engaging our stakeholders to implement an action plan that will address all of the NAS recommendations,” Jefferson said at a subcommittee hearing of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee regarding the highway safety provisions of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. Under the FAST Act, FMCSA must complete its corrective action plan within 120 days of the NAS report, which was released on June 27. Jefferson announced during the hearing that FMCSA would be holding a public meeting before the end of the 120-day period for stakeholders to express their views on the NAS report and on reform of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. FMCSA has not formally announced a date and place, but the agency reportedly has settled on September 8 in the Washington, D.C., area.