Originally published at: FMCSA data: are these the ‘most dangerous’ trucking carriers in America? - FreightWaves
These carriers have the highest crash rates, per FMCSA data.
The insurance underwriters who insure all carriers already have very detailed information on every carrier and accident record. These underwriters are all connected to this. It lists all accidents. At fault, not at fault, reported , not reported, it doesn’t matter what the FMCSA reprts, or what the states report. The underwriting is based on what info is there from claims, any claim, for years and years. So to think better public view of a carriers accident record is going tp help is a farce at best. Brokers, until held responsible in some way could care less. It is about profit. Not saftey, until it affects their bottom line it will always be this way.
Question, what role does driver turnover play in this game, er set of vital statistic? Second question what role does inexperienced company driver trainers play? Third question what was the governed road speed of the trucks involved in these accidents? Question, how many hours had the driver been on duty and on duty driving at the time of the accident? Question, what was the pay rate for each of the drivers? Question, at the time of the accident, how long had it been since the driver had a sit down meal and shower? Question, at the time of the accident was the driver having any unresolved family issues?
You hit the nail on the head. Couldn’t say it better.
I’d add this point. You mentioned times. I can tell you from experience here that looking at eld can be inaccurate. Most companies have whole departments that specialize in changing eld times. Drove for several. Here’s the thing and this came right from a couple Illinois State troopers. Unless it’s blatant and screaming here I am they are told by state (and they believe came from fed dot to ignore things specifically when it comes to foreign run companies such as say MN89 and such.
Lack of training, immigration illegals and non domiciled cdls, cameleon carriers, fraudulent elogs, company pressure to beat the clock and the list goes on and on
There are plenty of brokers who work hard for the client and do the loss take down, FMSCA work, onsite Saftey input, etc..to help our clients drive cost down. There are no good prices for commercial auto. PERIOD. This industry has had 55 straight quarters of increases. Now let’s think back for a min when the industry told everyone there was a driver shortage and lowered the bar for ‘who is qualified to operate something that weighs 80K or more LBS on the roads’. You lower the standards of who is a driver, you increase the bad outcomes on the road. Low standards hurts any industry. We could be on a plastics mfg forum saying the same thing.
It’s not about the broker, we are tired of delivering nothing but bad news to our clients. We work hard to make sure that the insurance company knows ALOT about the risk. The CLUE report you refer to above is also rigged in a. way that benefits folks who work the lawyer/doctor circuit. The judge will tell the insurance company to settle before it goes to a jury. The Judge is right…you don’t want to be on the ■■■■ for 19MM plus interest when you could easily offer 1MM overnighted in a check to keep you calm so you don’t sure.
Its expensive, yes, BUT, its cheaper than the alternative.
Lawsuits are funded and the insurance company will not play that game, they will just pay and move on.
Policyholder has no say in the matter, that’s what the policy says. (read the policy?)
The main problem as I see it is there are too many trucking companies out there right now. The insurance industry wants to see a lot of them go away.
Some truck company owners just don’t care. A lot of them are trying.
All this bottom line talk is nonsense. There are greedy brokers out there, but they get caught with their pants down.
I would love to see the FMSCA do their job and get out there and audit. A lot of this would get cleaned up if they just started there…