Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
FMCSA Logo
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | January 1, 2000 |
| Jurisdiction | United States Government |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Employees | 1,000 |
| Annual budget | $668.523 million (FY15), requested |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | US Department of Transportation |
| Website | Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Website |
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation that regulates the trucking industry in the United States. The primary mission of the FMCSA is to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses.
The agency was established as a separate administration within U.S. Department of Transportation on January 1, 2000, pursuant to the "Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999." FMCSA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and employs more than 1,000 people in all 50 States and the District of Columbia, all dedicated to improving the safety of commercial motor vehicles (CMV) and saving lives.
In carrying out its safety mandate to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses, FMCSA:
T. F. Scott Darling, III is currently the Acting Administrator of the FMCSA. Darling joined FMCSA in 2012 when he was appointed him to serve as the agency's Chief Counsel. He was elevated to serve as the Acting Administrator (unconfirmed) in 2014 due to the departure of the agency's previous Administrator.
Daphne Jefferson became the Agency’s Deputy Administrator in February 2015 after serving as the Counselor to the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in the Office of the Secretary (OST).
The FMCSA is divided into 8 offices:
The field organizations deliver program services to FMCSA partners and customers. This organization consists of Field Operations, Service center and State-level motor carrier division offices.
These offices answer questions and provide guidance concerning the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
CSA is the cornerstone of FMCSA’s compliance and enforcement program. This highly controversial program oversees carriers’ safety performance through roadside inspections and crash investigations, issuing violations when instances of noncompliance with safety regulations are uncovered. The Agency’s safety investigation team and state law enforcement partners are small compared to the millions of CMV companies and commercial driver license (CDL) holders nationwide. A key component of the CSA program – known as the Safety Measurement System (SMS) – relies on data analysis to identify non-compliant and unsafe companies to prioritize them for enforcement interventions.
While the methodology for calculating SMS safety scores has evolved over time in response to suggestions from stakeholders, the program has proven effective at identifying unsafe, high-risk carriers. FMCSA is expected to publicly release additional changes to SMS designed to strengthen the Agency’s ability to identify companies for investigation before they are involved in a crash. The program's future remains in doubt as it has been the subject of heavy criticism from the DOT's own Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office, and Congress itself in the FAST Act. That Act requires the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science (NAS) to conduct a thorough study of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, specifically the Safety Measurement System (SMS).
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