Which of the following is NOT used in CSA to prioritize carriers for FMCSA contact or intervention?

Answer: D — Driver complaints

The correct choice relates to the tools and methodologies that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses within the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program to assess and prioritize motor carriers for intervention. CSA primarily focuses on data that reflects a carrier's safety performance and compliance with regulations. Roadside inspection data, accident records, and traffic violations are all integral components of the CSA score, as they directly pertain to the safety and reliability of commercial motor vehicle operations. These data points provide a quantitative measure of a carrier's performance, highlighting trends in safety issues and compliance that can prompt further investigation or intervention by the FMCSA. On the other hand, driver complaints, while they may indicate potential issues, do not carry the same level of weight in the CSA prioritization process as the objective data derived from inspections, accidents, and violations. They may inform concerns about a carrier, but do not form part of the systematic and quantifiable dataset used to assess compliance with safety standards in the same direct way as the other categories. Thus, they are not utilized to prioritize carriers for contact or intervention within the CSA framework.