What modifications are being made to the measure of exposure for the Unsafe Driving BASIC and Crash Indicator?
Analysis conducted by FMCSA showed measuring exposure solely by Power Units (PUs) may overly identify as deficient, those carriers with high utilization rates (i.e. those carriers with greater than the national average per power unit rate). Analysis also indicated that the sole use of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the measure of exposure overly identified those carriers with low utilization rates as deficient. As a result, the Agency created a new approach to measure carriers’ exposure on the road within the Unsafe Driving BASIC and the Crash Indicator using a combination of PUs and, when available and reliable, VMT data. The Agency is also exploring options to enhance the reliability of VMT data for future use, including potential cross checks against State databases that include VMT and enforcement action against motor carriers that report erroneous data. Additionally, the carrier population is now segmented into two groups based on the type of vehicle (combination and straight) op
