CSA The Safety Measurement System SMS

The SMS uses data from roadside inspections and crash reports from the last two years, and data from investigations to identify and intervene with motor carriers that pose the greatest risk to safety.

FMCSA updates the SMS once a month and organizes the data into seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs). The SMS groups carriers by BASIC with other carriers that have a similar number of safety events and then ranks carriers and assigns a percentile to prioritize them for interventions. To learn about SMS’s effectiveness, visit the SMS Effectiveness Test page.

Complete SMS results are available to enforcement users and carriers that are logged into their own safety profiles. For more information on what SMS data is available to the public, review this FAQ.

Learn more about the Basics

JDW Truckers Insurance offer commercial truck insurance quotes from the top rated commercial truck insurance companies in:

AL – AR – FL – GA – IL – IN – MO – MS – NC – NV – OH – PA – SC – TN – TX – VA

Owner operators truck insurance requirements:

• Primary Liability (AL) $1,000,000 to get load from shippers and brokers. The FMCAS only requires $750,000 to get authorize to haul but as mentioned most you haul for will require the $1,000,000.
• Motor Truck Cargo. In most cases $100,000 will be needed to get loads but some cargo you may haul will have higher cargo limit requirement, which we can help you meet the higher motor truck cargo limits if you are requirement to have higher limits.
• Physical Damage (PD) is coverage provided to replace or repair not only your trucks and/or trailers if they are damaged but also is design to cover non-owned trailers and trailer interchange.
• Trailer Interchange (TI) and Non-Owned Trailer coverage can have different physical damage limit requirements. And is required but shippers and others when you use one of their trailers. Two examples: 1) The UIIA will require at least $25,000 in trailer interchange to work with the equipment providers (in some cases higher).  Amazon Relay currently has the physical damage requirement for trailer replacement set at $50,000.
• Excess Liability can be used to satisfy higher limit requirements for primary liability and/or cargo. For example if you are hauling fuel then you will be required to have $1,000,000 in primary liability and then an excess liability policy of $4,000,000 for a total of $5,000,000 in liability coverages.
• General Liability (GL) can be required and is always a good idea to have in place as it relatively in expensive. In most cases if general liability required the limits are $1,000,000 with $2,000,000 general aggregate. Examples: The UIIA require general liability, Amazon relay requires GL and flatbed operations are advise to have general liability.
• Refrigeration Breakdown or Reefer Breakdown coverage will be required if you are hauling perishable cargo such as fresh produce, frozen foods or other cargo that must be kept at a required temperature. You want to make sure you understand your reefer breakdown coverages. Some commercial truck insurance companies will offer coverages but with terms. For example they might offer reefer breakdown coverage but have a higher deductible based on the age of your reefer unit.