Different UCR Approaches - Part 4

Unregistered Carriers on 10/23/2009 - 1833
Unregistered Carriers on 10/26/2009 - 1873

WE’LL REGISTER UCR UNIVERSE CARRIERS
We’re probably all familiar with the phrase “UCR Universe Carriers” by now, but let’s review briefly just to make sure.

The UCR “Universe” came about when the UCR Board needed to take a stab at figuring out which carriers might actually be counted on to register under UCR.

Since UCR is driven by the USDOT number, the Board decided that MCMIS, the database that holds information related to USDOT numbers, would represent the best possible data source in which to start looking for said carriers.

Since MCMIS also contains information on a lot of entities that are 1) exempt from UCR registration (owner-operators and intrastate-only carriers, for example) or 2) no longer active but still showing active, a set of filters had to be established that would point the Board at the carriers with the highest actual likelihood of registering.

The Board decided that filters for this “UCR Universe” should be as follows:

Carriers must be shown in MCMIS as Active Interstate Carriers (all separate pieces of data)

Carriers must also have had a crash, an inspection, an MCS-150 update or a UCR registration in the past twelve months.

For states that focus on the UCR Universe List (like IL), it doesn’t mean that we don’t register other carriers or that we don’t go looking for new carriers. The list functions more as a registry of “hot UCR leads”.

Here are two things that states that focus on the UCR Universe List have to keep in mind.

First, the map is not the terrain. The UCR Universe list is a set of database records that may or may not represent real live, breathing, active carriers.

Second, the UCR Universe List only represents carriers that have acquired USDOT numbers. A carrier can’t be in MCMIS without one. If a carrier has never gotten a USDOT number, they’re not in MCMIS – but that doesn't mean they don't need to get a USDOT number and register under UCR. These are the carriers that enforcement frequently encounters before anybody else does and sends to us for registration.