FMCSA Smartphone App to Provide Truck Safety Data

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced a new Smartphone app that will allow for more convenient access to currently available online safety-performance information for interstate truck and bus companies.

“By making currently available safety information on interstate truck and bus companies more easily accessible for both law-enforcement personnel and the general public, we are providing greater transparency while making our roadways safer for everyone. Safety is our highest priority, so we are committed to using every resource available at our fingertips to ensure the safety of travellers,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

Called “QCMobile”,  the new app is expected to be a particularly valuable tool for state and federal law-enforcement personnel, as well as insurers, brokers, freight forwarders and others interested in reviewing the USDOT registration and safety-performance information of motor carriers.

“FMCSA will continue to use all the tools, resources and partnerships available to further strengthen commercial-vehicle safety across the country,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Scott Darling. “Aggressive safety enforcement, research and technology development and deployment, combined with strong stakeholder participation, will continue to be directed toward removing unsafe trucks and buses from our roadways and protecting every traveller from needless harm.”

Law-enforcement officers and commercial-motor-vehicle safety inspectors use customized software at the roadside to log in to national safety databases to obtain highly detailed safety information on all interstate truck and bus companies.

The new QCMobile app, which requires no login, immediately reveals whether the federal operating status of the carrier is authorized while helping to expedite an “inspect/pass” decision by a certified commercial-vehicle safety inspector.

QCMobile retrieves data from a number of FMCSA sources and provides a clear summary of the results. Law-enforcement officers and safety inspectors then have the option of retrieving more detailed information on carriers covering their seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) that are a part of FMCSA’s cornerstone safety program, Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA).

FMCSA is proactively working to implement the provisions of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), as well as advancing core safety initiatives including the CSA program, which is designed to reduce the number and severity of crashes involving large trucks and buses further, by providing detailed information outlining areas of potential safety concern for law-enforcement personnel, motor carriers, and professional truck and bus drivers, while also triggering processes to implement corrective action, said the agency.

Julia Kuzeljevich is the editor of Canadian Shipper. She has been writing about transportation and logistics issues since 1999.