How To Review a Motor Carrier’s Accident History
When shopping for a used car, you can look up that car’s accident history. That helps you make an informed decision about buying that particular vehicle. In the aftermath of a trucking accident, you can also look up the motor carrier’s accident history of the big rig and the driver. That information can be a crucial part of an insurance claim. It can help prove liability where there is a history of negligence.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has the following specific requirements for accident record keeping:
“Motor carriers are required to maintain a register of all crashes (as defined in 49 CFR 390.5T) that occurred in the past 3 years. The register must contain, at minimum, the date of the crash, the city or town and state most near where the crash occurred, the driver’s name, the number of injuries or fatalities, and whether hazardous materials, other than fuel spilled from the fuel tanks of motor vehicle involved in the crash, were released. If a crash involves the release of hazardous materials, carriers must complete a hazardous incident report.”
You and your attorney can access some additional reports to help support a personal injury claim against a truck driver and their company.
Company Information
FMCSA launched the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records System (SAFER) to allow anyone access to safety information about specific trucking companies.
This is how you access a SAFER report:
- Go to fmcsa.dot.gov
- Under the heading FMCSA searches, click on the section “Company Snapshot.”
- After clicking this heading, you can find the motor carrier based on the company’s name, US DOT Number, or MC/MX Number.
- Next, click on “Company Snapshot.”
You can find information about licensing and insurance when you access the company snapshot. The snapshot will also tell you the amount of liability insurance coverage the company is carrying.
Driver Information
In addition to the accident record, the FMCSA has set up the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability System (CSA) that collects a wide range of data about individual truck drivers and their companies. They generate a report from their Safety Management System (SMS) that includes data from the following behavior analysis categories:
- Unsafe driving
- Fatigued driving
- Driver Fitness (lack of training, experience, or medical qualifications)
- Controlled Substance Abuse
- Vehicle Maintenance
- Cargo-Related (improper loading, overweight violations)
- Crash Indicator (history of previous crashes)
The public cannot look up a record of an individual driver. However, that information can be accessed with help from an attorney. Even though the motor carrier is supposed to report the accident, it is equally important that you report any accident involving a truck.
In addition to the SMS report, the FMCSA provides a pre-employment screening program (PSP). Trucking companies primarily use that report to evaluate a potential new hire. It includes the following information:
- Five years of the driver’s crash history
- Three years of driver’s roadside inspection data
- Crash location and date
- The motor carrier the driver was employed for at the time of the crash
- Details about any injuries, fatalities, and tow-aways as a result of the accident
- Whether the vehicle was put out of service after a collision or failed inspection
Additional reports about a driver’s motor vehicle record (MVR) are also issued at the state level.
Collecting the Evidence
While the number of reports and data might seem overwhelming, the Trucking Injury Law Group can make sense of it all. We’re a team of experienced attorneys who specialize in trucking accidents. We know all the relevant reports to collect to support a successful outcome in a Boise trucking accident injury case. Call today to discuss your incident and to get the process started.
