The fourth in a series of PrePass whitepapers about how motor carriers can improve their safety records addresses two important measures: how safely drivers perform and how often and why crashes occur.

FMCSA regards the Unsafe Driving and the Crash Indicator BASICs, along with the Hours of Service Compliance BASIC, as the three most critical of the seven BASICs. “BASICs –Improving Unsafe Driving and Crash Indicator”  focuses on these two BASICs and explains how the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) work in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program.

You will learn how to improve your Inspection Selection System (ISS) scores, including strategies to reduce speeding and recklessness. This paper shows that improvement in these two BASICs begins with a strong safety culture at the motor carrier, involving a whole team effort toward protecting fellow employees, the company, customers, and everyone on the road.

You will see how crashes are not always caused by unsafe driving and how certain crashes can be removed from FMCSA consideration in calculating carrier safety scores. This paper provides simple pre-trip steps to help avoid unsafe driving errors. And from a personnel perspective, how combining thorough hiring practices with a progressive disciplinary policy produces good results.

Also in this whitepaper, you will discover tips for reviewing the causes of violations and crashes, building team unity and trust, and documenting every step so federal investigators can chart the improvements made. Most important, the paper shows how a strong safety culture depends on consistency of message and values, from the top down.

Start working to improve your SMS BASICs by downloading the PrePass whitepaper “BASICs –Improving Unsafe Driving and Crash Indicator.”

You can download the other whitepapers in this series by going to the PrePass Resource Library.