• The FMCSA uses SMS data to intervene with carriers and drivers to improve behavior and safety performance.

Carriers and drivers are selected for intervention (enforcement action) to improve behavior and safety performance. Interventions are used on carriers whose percentile scores on one or more of the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) cross a certain threshold. There are no regulations governing this process; rather, it is based on a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) enforcement policy and was implemented without the need for any changes to regulations.

How does the FMCSA intervene when it discovers a carrier or driver performing poorly? Under the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, the agency has a variety of options designed to improve unsafe behavior early, identify process breakdowns, and reach more carriers and drivers than it could in the past. Once an unsafe carrier is identified, the Safety Measurement System (SMS) will recommend the level and type of intervention to be used.