Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Commercial Drivers’ License Information System (CDLIS) Gateway is a mission critical system to support a single point of entry by federal, local and other enforcement agencies to access U.S., Mexican, and Canadian CDL information. This information access includes Foreign Conviction Withdrawal Database (FCWD) and the Drug & Alcohol Clearing House (DACH). OBXtek is continually looking to enhance the Gateway’s functionality and, as a result, a nationwide mobile application is one of those enhancements.

Mobile Application

OBXtek’s mobile application provides state agencies with an online real time method for authorized users to access U.S., Canadian, Mexican and FCWD driver data and Mexican vehicle and carrier data via a mobile application. Additionally, displaying the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Prohibited status if the driver is prohibited to drive. Although this application will be particularly useful for the Canadian and Mexican border states, it can be used by all authorized users to access not only foreign data, but all U.S. CDLIS data.

Problem Statement

On February 29, 2016, FMCSA posted the following to its website, “The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today released an annual analysis that estimates that commercial vehicle roadside safety inspection and traffic enforcement programs saved 472 lives in 2012. Since 2001, these programs have saved more than 7,000 lives.” The post went on to note that the “vast majority of these roadside safety inspections are conducted by the states” for “State commercial motor vehicle safety program activities, including roadside inspections and traffic enforcement.”

Reference: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/fmcsa-estimates-truck-bus-safety-roadside-inspections-and-traffic-enforcement-activities#sthash.YPEOrDbx.dpuf.

OBXtek operates the FMCSA Gateway under contract with FMCSA as a sub-contractor. The FMCSA Gateway houses the FCWD, the cdlis.dot.gov website and connectivity to Query Central, the public facing web service, CDLIS, and Mexico’s driver, vehicle and carrier data. Driver, vehicle and carrier data are accessible to state roadside inspectors, law enforcement and border patrol. However, the screens were not designed for mobile applications. As a result, users have difficulty viewing the text, they must scroll in every direction, and wade through data they don’t use roadside.

These users need to quickly identify and remove unlicensed drivers and unregistered Mexican vehicles from the nation’s highways. In addition to validating the CDL license status, state roadside inspectors, law enforcement and border patrol determine if the driver has the proper CDL classification and endorsements for the vehicle being driven. They also check the driver license restrictions and medical certification requirements.

Finally, these state users need to complete their work quickly, efficiently and thoroughly and then get off the roadside for their personal safety and that of the driver. Each year lives are lost as a result of accidents while roadside.

Performance Objective

FMCSA has proven that commercial motor vehicle roadside safety inspection and traffic enforcement programs save lives. The goal and objective for the mobile application is to increase highway safety and save lives by supporting these programs. It provides authorized state users with a mobile application to quickly and efficiently access U.S., Canadian and Mexican driver data and Mexican vehicle and carrier, to include Android & iOS.