The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) is making a legislative push to establish a safety standard for motor carrier selection.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) introduced HR3042 in Congress, which seeks to establish a national motor carrier safety selection standard for entities that contract with certain motor carriers to transport goods, and for other purposes.
The bill was referred to to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit earlier this week.
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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration conducts audits of motor carriers to give them a safety rating (Satisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory). With the current rating system, 85% of carriers are not rated, however, and that is “not fair” to freight brokers, said Anne Reinke, president of TIA.
A new safety standard would help prevent instances where freight brokers are roped into negligence selection lawsuits. “Typically, those who like to file lawsuits like confusion. We are trying to provide certainty,” Reinke said.
Despite having limited public safety data on carriers, freight brokers and 3PLs use a variety of qualitative and quantitative metrics to guide their selection of carriers. During the TIA conference this week, a panel of 3PLs discussed how these metrics have been useful during a time when capacity is very tight.
