{"id":2320,"date":"2020-05-11T15:59:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T15:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quicktransportsolutions.com\/blog\/?p=2320"},"modified":"2020-05-11T15:59:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T15:59:50","slug":"analyzing-usdot-governance-and-proper-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quicktransportsolutions.com\/blog\/analyzing-usdot-governance-and-proper-counts\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyzing USDOT Governance and Proper Counts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyone in the trucking or transportation industry will tell you that rules and regulations have been a long part of the landscape. Yet, when did it become this way? Certainly, long ago when trucking first came into being, it was sort of like the wild, wild west out there. Perhaps that is why the United States Department of Transportation<\/a> was created. We bet you thought it was created a lot earlier than it was. In fact, the DOT was not created until Lyndon Baines Johnson was brought to office in 1966. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The original purpose of the DOT was to \u201ccreate, develop, and\ncoordinate policies to provide an efficient and economical national\ntransportation system.\u201d As the economy grew in the 60s, the federal government\nneeded to create a cabinet-level position to help ensure the growing\ntransportation sector of the United States remained safe, efficient, and\nadequate for the country\u2019s needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But did you know that the idea for a national department of\ntransportation actually originated 92 years before President Johnson actually\ncreated the agency? That\u2019s right. Thomas Jefferson once recognized the need for\na governmental department to regulate national transportation efforts when he\nreferred to the \u201croads department.\u201d Yet, it wouldn\u2019t be until many years later that\nthe roads department transformed into the Department of Transportation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been since 1967 that the DOT has governed mass\ntransit across the country. Today, the DOT incorporates more than just land\ntravel. You will also find the Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration,\nRailroad Administration, Maritime Administration, Commercial Space\nTransportation, and the National Transportation Safety Board all under the DOT\numbrella. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, Congress passed the\nAviation and Transportation Security Act, which would eventually lead to the\ncreation of the Department of Homeland Security. Today, the Coast Guard and\nTransportation Security Administration fall under the Department of Homeland\nSecurity, who\u2019s job it is to monitor threats of terrorism within the United\nStates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that you know the history of the agency that governs the\nindustry you operate in, now it\u2019s time to learn more about that special number\nthat identifies each truck driver and trucking company they work for: The\nubiquitous USDOT number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the USDOT Number?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another agency that falls under the auspices of the DOT is\nthe Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). All trucking\ncompanies<\/a> must have an identifiable USDOT number registered through the\nFMCSA. The agency uses the number to track a fleet\u2019s overall level of safety\nperformance. If you are a trucking company operating in interstate commerce,\nyou are required to have a USDOT number. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USDOT number is also mandated by individual states. To-date, nearly 40 of them require truck drivers within their state to have a USDOT number. That is regardless of whether they are operating interstate commerce or not. Many new truck drivers probably wonder what exactly the USDOT number means. We are here to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As a matter of policy, the FMCSA assigns a unique USDOT\nnumber to each person or entity that registers with the agency. The USDOT\nnumber will be specific to the legal entity, or company, applying for it. Still,\nsome trucking companies do have multiple USDOT numbers, which is not entirely\nunheard of. A single number for a single legal entity is not a hard and fast\nrule. Still, the FMCSA prefers that different aspects of an organization report\nup the line to a single USDOT number. And while multiple numbers are allowed in\nsome instances, the agency does not allow multiple USDOT numbers to be used to\nhelp trucking companies avoid compliance, hide non-compliance, or hide a\nhistory of bad behavior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because a USDOT is a unique identifier, it cannot be\ntransferred from one organization to another. And if a trucking company ends up\nbeing sold or merging with another company, a new entity must be created with\nits own USDOT number, otherwise they will not be allowed to continue running\nfreight operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the BASICs Tie In<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the CSA program has gone through a couple\nconvolutions since its inception, it is still around. Part of the CSA program\nare the BASICs. While the BASIC scores rely on inspections to determine whether\na fleet is ready and where they rank in their peer group, there are two ranking\nfactors that serve as outliers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the Unsafe Driving and Crash Indicator BASICs take into\nconsideration how many \u201cat bats\u201d the fleet has. But what does this actually\nmean? Basically, these two scoring mechanisms incorporate a formula that\nfactors in how many vehicles the carrier has, as well as the number of miles\ntraveled across the fleet. They do this to account for large trucking companies\nwho may have twice the violations and crashes because they have twice the power\nunits and drive twice the miles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trucking companies would do well to ensure their MCS-150\nfiles are updated with the FMCSA so that they can be properly judged against\ntheir peers in the industry. And in cases where a motor carrier reduces their\nsize, updates need to be provided quickly. If the FMCSA doesn\u2019t have an\naccurate number of power units for your organization, your scores may be\nweighted improperly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this is done through the Unified Carrier Registration\nsystem. This system uses a fleet\u2019s MCS-150 power unit count as a starting point\nfor determining their fee bracket. If a trucking company reports more vehicles,\nthey will likely be slotted into a higher fee bracket. Being in different\nbrackets means the difference between hundreds and tens of thousands of dollars\nin fees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep Accurate Vehicle Counts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there has been one takeaway from all this, it is to\nensure you are keeping accurate vehicle counts in your fleet. If getting your\nvehicle counts right means the difference between fair and huge fees down the\nline, you need to be as accurate as possible. Still, many fleets may not know\nwhich vehicles and truck drivers they need to count. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many fleets, assessing the truck driver count is the\nharder of the two tasks. If you look closely at the FMCSA regulations, they\nwant a motor carrier\u2019s truck drivers to be broken out by truck drivers who\noperate within state lines and those who operate from state to state. Once a\nfleet has broken out those numbers, then they need to isolate who operates\nwithin a 100 air-mile radius. When added up, these four metrics should add up\nto an accurate total number of truck drivers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it doesn\u2019t end there. Once that number is totaled up, a\nmotor carrier will need to create a separate count for the number of CDL truck\ndrivers they have on staff. While this all may seem like a very onerous way of\ndoing business, when you are dealing with government regulations, you have to\nmake sure you know what is expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you have a problem figuring out something like truck\ndriver counts, just take into consideration your average fleet workday. You\ndon\u2019t have to provide a hugely detailed analysis, but you must know the basic\nnumbers. If you can provide an educated overview of your operation, you won\u2019t\nhave to worry about running into the wrong end of an audit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work Your Way Back<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He best way to handle an accurate truck driver count is to\nwork your way backwards. You want to start with the gross number of truck\ndrivers that operate a vehicle on any given day. Then break that number down to\nthose who stay within 100 air-miles of home base. The outside number you get\nout of that equation makes the difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you know the inter- versus intrastate breakdown, you\nwill be able to provide an accurate number. And while counting power units may\nseem like an easier proposition then counting truck drivers, it does not come\nwithout its complications. It\u2019s even harder when you are going by the\nguidelines outlined in the MCS-150 form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, a fleet\u2019s vehicle count should be based on the number of commercial motor vehicles counted on the day the report is submitted. And for the purposes of reporting, a fleet needs to count vehicles that have been registered to the company or leased for more than 30 days in the last calendar year. Also keep in mind that for this count, there is no distinguishing between inter- and intrastate commercial motor vehicles. All must be counted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fact is the DOT and FMCSA are the principle factors in\nthe lives of just about every trucking operator out there. So, why not be\nproactive and ensure you do everything you can to keep them happy and your\ntrucking company humming?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone in the trucking or transportation industry will tell you that rules and regulations have been a long part of the landscape. Yet, when did it become this way? Certainly, long ago when trucking first came into being, it was sort of like the wild, wild west out there. Perhaps that is why the United … Read moreAnalyzing USDOT Governance and Proper Counts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trucking"],"yoast_head":"\nAnalyzing USDOT Governance and Proper Counts - Quick Transport Solutions Trucking Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/quicktransportsolutions.com\/blog\/analyzing-usdot-governance-and-proper-counts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Analyzing USDOT Governance and Proper Counts - Quick Transport Solutions Trucking Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anyone in the trucking or transportation industry will tell you that rules and regulations have been a long part of the landscape. 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