The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Headquarters sends warning letters to motor carriers. A warning letter notifies a motor carrier that its safety performance data shows a lack of compliance with motor carrier safety regulations. The warning letter lists the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) where the carrier’s performance indicates safety issues and encourages the carrier to look at its Safety Measurement System (SMS) data online.

Carriers do not need to respond in writing to FMCSA after receiving a warning letter. FMCSA encourages motor carriers to log in to the SMS to examine their data, focusing their attention first on the BASICs that are over or near the Intervention Threshold. Carriers should also consider doing all of the following:

• Ensure accuracy of data. Ensure that all the data listed is accurate and belongs to their U.S. DOT Number. If data is potentially incorrect, they can submit a request for data review through DataQs.
• Examine violation types. Examine the summary of the violations that they are receiving and notice which violations occur most frequently and those with the highest severity weights. These are two data points that should help carriers determine their next steps.
• Conduct detailed data analysis. Download violation data into an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis. Sort the data by driver, date, location of inspection, vehicle, vehicle type, and violation. Analyze the data for any trends to determine the root cause(s) of any safety problem(s), and review findings with their management team. For more information on how to conduct detailed analysis, check out this FAQ.
• Address identified safety issues. Develop and execute strategies to improve compliance with safety regulations to prevent more intensive interventions. FMCSA has developed tools and resources that may assist motor carriers with this process. These tools are referenced in this FAQ.
• Periodically review SMS data. Review SMS data monthly to monitor progress.
• Review the Warning Letter Factsheet.

Higher percentile ranks could cause a motor carrier to enter, or remain, in the pool of carriers with BASICs that exceed the Intervention Thresholds. Carriers with percentiles above a certain Intervention Threshold and meeting minimum data sufficiency requirements in a BASIC can be deemed poor safety performers. These carriers will be prioritized for Compliance, Safety, Accountability interventions. Increased percentiles may make a carrier subject to more severe interventions.

The Intervention Thresholds for carriers are organized by BASIC and are set based on a given BASIC's relationship to crash risk. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s analysis has shown that the strongest relationship to crash risk is found with high percentiles in the Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance and Crash Indicator BASICs. Therefore, these higher risk BASICs have a lower threshold for interventions than the other BASICs. Currently, the Intervention Thresholds are as follows:

Despite rumors to the contrary, no. While research was recently released stating that a driver's BMI is a risk factor for identifying sleep apnea, neither the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) nor the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program currently has any rules that restrict who can be a commercial motor vehicle driver based on BMI or weight, or neck size. For more information view FMCSA’s Spotlight on Sleep Apnea.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration does not address drivers the same way that it addresses motor carriers. While motor carriers are prioritized for intervention based on the Safety Measurement System, drivers are only investigated during a carrier investigation. Therefore, no Intervention Thresholds are in place for drivers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration uses the SMS to:

• Identify motor carriers for interventions, such as warning letters, investigations, or roadside inspections.
• Determine the specific safety problems of the carrier to focus on during an intervention.
• Monitor motor carrier noncompliance issues over time.

PSP is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration program mandated by Congress that is designed to assist the motor carrier industry in assessing individual operators' crash and serious safety violation history as a pre-employment condition. The program is voluntary and is not part of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

Motor carriers may request driver information for the purpose of pre-employment screening. The driver must provide written consent. Individual drivers may request their own driver information record at any time. The information will be retrieved from the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). Electronic profiles contain five years of crash data and three years of inspection data; however, MCMIS does not include conviction data. There is a fee for this service.

For a carrier to enroll in PSP, visit the enrollment page. For additional questions about PSP, visit the PSP Website's FAQs page or the PSP "Contact Us" page.

While the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration does not use the Safety Measurement System (SMS) or any other system to assign formal safety ratings to individual drivers, the agency recognizes that holding drivers accountable for safe driving behavior is an important part of the safety compliance and enforcement process. Safety Investigators (SIs) always systematically investigate drivers with egregious violations when investigating a motor carrier. Additionally, SIs use the Driver SMS, an internal safety assessment tool, to review drivers with strong patterns of noncompliance. Any violations that are not corrected may result in a Notice of Violation or Notice of Claim for the driver.

The DSMS is a component of the overall Safety Measurement System (SMS). The DSMS is a tool that enables enforcement personnel to assess individual drivers in the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories using 36 months of roadside performance data across employers.

State can do that. DSMS does not impact a driver's Commercial Driver's License. Neither drivers nor employing motor carriers nor the general public have access to the DSMS. FMCSA does not address drivers the same way it addresses carriers today, nor will it under the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. While carriers are prioritized for intervention based on the SMS, drivers are only investigated during a carrier investigation. Therefore, no Intervention Thresholds are in place for drivers.

When investigating a motor carrier, a Safety Investigator (SI) looks at driver history for egregious violations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). These violations are sometimes referred to as Red Flag Violations and are always investigated as part of a carrier investigation. The SI conducting the investigation looks to see if the violation has been corrected. At present, there are 16 such violations, though this list may be updated periodically. These violations are outlined in the table below, along with the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) to which they correspond.

Any driver violations identified and addressed during carrier investigations that are not corrected may result in a driver Notice of Violation or Notice of Claim.

Carrier safety performance in the SMS is based upon the previous 24 months of on-road performance, inspection and crash data, and Acute and Critical Violations found during investigations over the last 12 months. Either on-road performance or investigation results can result in a carrier being identified for intervention.

The SMS will stop identifying motor carriers for intervention when their Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) percentile ranks are no longer above the Intervention Thresholds. There are three ways that this can happen:

1. Inspections without violations at roadside demonstrate improved performance;
2. Poor inspections will count less over time and eventually fall outside of the 24-month timeframe; and/or
3. If the carrier goes a full year without a violation and its last inspection in a BASIC did not result in any violations. In the Unsafe Driving and Crash Indicator BASICs, a carrier simply needs to go a year without an incident in these two BASICs.

The SMS will stop flagging motor carriers based on Acute and Critical Violations one year after the Acute/Critical Violation was issued. Keep in mind that the SMS updates monthly, so this change will be reflected on the next SMS update after the one year timeframe has passed.

Understanding the regulations and ensuring vehicles and drivers are safe today will help keep carriers off of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's radar tomorrow.

Motor carriers are prioritized for interventions if their Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) are at or above Intervention Thresholds. Industry stakeholders maintain that some of the Intervention Thresholds are ineffective because their BASICs are not highly correlated to crash risk. FMCSA proposes an enhancement to the Intervention Thresholds for the Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, and Driver Fitness BASICs to more closely reflect these BASICs’ correlation to crash risk and improve our focus on carriers with high crash rates. This enhancement includes:

• Adjusting the Intervention Threshold for the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC
  We propose adjusting the Intervention Threshold for the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC from 80 percent to 75 percent to reflect its higher correlation to crash risk. We also propose adjusting the passenger carrier and Hazardous Materials (HM) carrier thresholds for this BASIC using the same approach; the passenger carrier threshold would be reduced from 65 percent to 60 percent and the HM carrier threshold would drop from 75 percent to 70 percent.
• Adjusting the Intervention Threshold for the Controlled Substances/Alcohol BASIC
  We propose adjusting the Intervention Threshold for the Controlled Substances/Alcohol BASIC from 80 percent to 90 percent to reflect its lower correlation to crash risk. We also propose adjusting the passenger carrier and HM carrier thresholds for this BASIC using the same approach; the passenger carrier threshold would be raised from 65 percent to 75 percent while the HM carrier threshold would increase from 75 percent to 85 percent.
• Adjusting the Intervention Threshold for the Driver Fitness BASIC
  We propose adjusting the Intervention Threshold for the Driver Fitness BASIC from 80 percent to 90 percent to reflect its lower correlation to crash risk. We also propose adjusting the passenger carrier and HM carrier thresholds for this BASIC using the same approach; the passenger carrier threshold would be raised from 65 percent to 75 percent and the HM carrier threshold would increase from 75 percent to 85 percent.

To learn more about this proposed change, review the Foundational Document. You can also Tour this Change to see this proposed enhancement in action.

The discretion to choose full or focused CRs for carriers with only the Crash Indicator in alert status is based on the intent/direction of the Significant Crash Memo. Employees making assignments should use data from the Carrier Safety Measurement System (CSMS), the Driver Safety Measurement System (DSMS), and other available sources while making assignment type and scope for carriers in alert status in only the Crash Indicator.

Assignment Considerations:

• When was the carrier contacted with a safety audit or compliance review (CR)?
• If the carrier has never been investigated, a full CR may be the appropriate assignment.
• What types of crashes show up in CSMS? (i.e. lane change, rear-ending, single vehicle off-road, etc.)
• Are the crash types consistent with or possibly connected to or indicative of noncompliance (e.g. rear-end crashes could indicate medical issues, Hours-of-Service (HOS), fatigue issues, or brake and related maintenance problems; single vehicle off-road could indicate medical problems, steering issues and related maintenance problems, or driving too fast for conditions within the Unsafe Driving BASIC)?
• Were post-crash level 1 inspections conducted? What violations were noted?
• What are the carrier's BASIC percentiles in CSMS? Are the percentiles approaching the established thresholds in the other BASICs that are not alert? (e.g. Are they within 10 percentile points of the threshold? -note, 10 is just a suggestion)
• If the carrier is within the set percentile points of the threshold (as described above, e.g. within 10 points of the threshold), a full CR may be the best assignment.
• What are the percentiles of the drivers in DSMS for each BASIC? Do one or two BASIC(s) stand out? Are poor-performing drivers also the drivers involved in the crashes that caused the carrier to be in alert status in the Crash Indicator?

The example below illustrates how to use information gathered from various sources (e.g. DSMS, SMS, past reviews) to determine which parts to review for a focused CR on a carrier with an alert in only the Crash Indicator:

Example: Carrier A, a non-HM, non-passenger carrier has exceeded the alert status in the Crash BASIC only and has come up for assignment in the Portal. Carrier A has four crashes and two of those crashes also had a post-crash level 1 inspection conducted. During those inspections, Part 395 violations were noted on the inspection reports. The carrier has a Fatigued Driving BASIC percentile of 63 and all other BASICs are below the 30th percentile.

The carrier had a CR conducted 13 months ago and currently has a “Satisfactory” safety rating. As part of the decision-making process, the manager looks into the DSMS and clicks on the Fatigued Driving (HOS) BASIC to see who and how many poor performing drivers are at or above the 50th percentile. The carrier has three of the four drivers involved in crashes above the 75th percentile in Fatigued Driving.

With this kind of information, the manager could assign a focused CR on the Fatigued Driving BASIC and focus the sample on drivers involved in crashes that caused the deficiency in accordance with e-FOTM sampling protocol. If the drivers involved do not have records available because the crashes are older than six months, select those within six months.

The purpose of the Safety Measurement System (SMS) is to identify carriers for intervention, to assist the Agency in using its limited resources to investigate those carriers with the greatest rate of non-compliance and crash risk. The SMS percentile rankings reflect a carrier's performance relative to other carriers at a point in time and are not a federal safety fitness rating.

A Safety Rating can only be issued at the conclusion of an on-site investigation resulting in one of three possible ratings (1) “satisfactory” – indicating that management controls are sufficient to ensure compliance with the safety fitness standard, (2) “conditional” – indicating that safety controls are inadequate but have not yet resulted in violation of the safety fitness standard, or (3) “unsatisfactory” – indicating that management controls are inadequate and have resulted in violations of the safety fitness standard. 49 CFR 385.3. A motor carrier rated “unsatisfactory” is prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce. 49 CFR 385.13(a).

Congress gave FMCSA statutory authority to determine the safety fitness of motor vehicle operators (49 U.S.C. 31144). FMCSA has established federal motor carrier safety standards (49 C.F.R. Parts 390 - 399), procedures for conducting an on-site investigation (i.e., a compliance review as defined in 49 CFR Part 385) of whether a carrier is in compliance with these safety standards (49 C.F.R. Part 385), and criteria for assigning the carrier a specific safety rating (49 C.F.R. 385.3).

The SMS does not affect a carrier's safety rating, which means that a carrier can have a “satisfactory” safety rating but exceed an intervention threshold in a BASIC. SMS uses aggregated safety and compliance data to assess and rank carriers on a monthly basis for enforcement prioritization purposes. It is intended to identify the specific areas in which a carrier has regulatory compliance or safety problems so that the carrier can be prioritized for intervention.

The CSP is a structured plan for safety improvements based upon the underlying factors causing the carrier to have a symbol in any given Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category. It is a voluntary plan on the part of the carrier to improve its safety performance. A carrier may submit a handwritten or an electronic version of its CSP.

FMCSA proposes an enhancement to the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) to make it more effective at identifying motor carriers with HM compliance problems for interventions. This enhancement includes:

• Segmenting this BASIC by Discerning Cargo Tank and Non-Cargo Tank Operations
  Industry stakeholders raised concerns to FMCSA that large non-cargo tank HM carriers have difficulty improving in the HM Compliance BASIC because they are compared to cargo tank HM carriers. Cargo tank and non-cargo tank operations often result in different violations. Segmenting these carriers would enable the SMS to account for these differences when assigning percentiles in this BASIC.
• Adjusting this BASIC’s Intervention Threshold
  We propose adjusting the HM Compliance BASIC’s Intervention Threshold from 80 percent to 90 percent to reflect its lower correlation to crash risk.

To learn more about this proposed change, review the Foundational Document. You can also Tour this Change to see this proposed enhancement in action.

The new Carrier Overview page indicates if a carrier has a BASIC prioritized for intervention with the symbol . There are two reasons why this could occur; (1) the carrier exceeds the Intervention Threshold or (2) the carrier had Acute and/or Critical Violations noted during the most recent investigation. Users can still view specific percentile ranks for each BASIC by selecting each specific BASIC.

The warning letter provides motor carriers with early notification of potential safety performance issues. Warning letters are based on roadside performance results collected during the previous 24 months. The warning letter is sent to the motor carrier's principal place of business and specifically identifies Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories that exceed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Intervention Threshold relative to the motor carrier's safety event grouping and outlines possible consequences of continued compliance problems. View the Warning Letter Factsheet here.

The reason the severity points look different in the download is because the severity point total in the download is not just for that violation; it is the total inspection time/severity weight, which is a total of all of the violation time/severity weights cited in that inspection. If there are other violations from the same incident in the same BASIC, the Excel file will show the total of all of those severity points, not the total for that one violation, but they only count one time in SMS. This is how it needs to be displayed in Excel in order for users to be able to sort by violation/driver. We understand it is confusing and the FMCSA Technical Support Team is looking into possible enhancements for this issue.

Carriers looking to improve their Safety Measurement System (SMS) BASIC percentile ranks should read the information “What can a motor carrier do to improve?” section of the information center located here: http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS/InfoCenter/Default.aspx. There are numerous tips that will help carriers with improving their SMS percentile ranks and help drivers avoid crashes and violations.