Requires contract carriers of passengers by motor vehicle to provide federal SMS results to potential customers

BILL NUMBER:S5093A

Title of bill

An act to amend the transportation law, in relation to requiring safety reports to potential customers of contract carriers of passengers by motor vehicle

Purpose or general idea of bill

To require contract carriers of passengers by motor vehicle to provide and explain their most recent federal Safety Status Measurement System (SMS) scores before entering into a contract with a customer.

Summary of specific provisions

Amends Section 140 of the transportation law to require that no contract carrier of passengers by motor vehicle shall enter into a contract to provide services to any customer without first providing:

- a written copy of the carrier's three most recent SMS scores, and

- an explanation of how the score is calculated and what it means

Justification

Customers of motor carrier companies must be able to rely on those companies to operate safely, but in many instances customers sign contracts without access to carriers' safety records.

In the past 7 months, New York has seen two major bus accidents resulting in numerous injuries and the loss of over 19 lives. The most recent, was on March 12th when a driver reportedly flipped his bus while trying to avoid a swerving tractor-trailer. After further investigation the driver was found to be operating the vehicle under a fraudulent license with a history of multiple license suspensions. The carrier, World Wide Tours, has recently been under investigation for issues involving fatigued drivers. Two days after the accident 36 buses were stopped at police checkpoints. Of the buses stopped, 10 drivers had violations so serious that they were made to stop driving immediately. It is vital that we put safeguards in place, so that no more lives are lost.

By utilizing the Safety Measurement System (SMS), companies will no longer be able to hide from their past transgressions. SMS was developed to track the on-road safety performance of carriers and drivers to identify candidates for interventions, determine the specific safety problems that a carrier or driver exhibits, and to monitor whether safety problems are improving or worsening. The SMS score is determined by analyzing data to quantify performance in the following categories: Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substance/Alcohol Abuse, Vehicle Maintenance, Cargo-Related Issues, and Crash Indicator. Once a company's score is calculated, they are placed in a peer group with other companies who have received similar scores.

Without requiring carriers to provide copies of safety records to customers, there will be no motivation for carriers to take more serious actions against drivers with multiple violations. This legislation would ensure that all potential customers have direct access to critical information about the safety records of motor vehicle carriers, and it would provide additional incentive for carriers to improve their own safety ratings.

Prior legislative history

None.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act to take effect immediately.