FMCSA Updates Crash Preventability Determination Program

Among the good news in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed revisions to its Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program is that the agency intends to expand its Crash Preventability Determination Program. Under that program, motor carriers can submit a Request for Data Review (an RDR) to FMCSA’s DataQs program, asserting that a crash was not preventable by the motor carrier or the truck driver.

Since the program started in May 2020, motor carriers have submitted such requests just over 39,000 times. Nearly 73 percent of those submitted crashes fell within the 16 categories of crashes eligible for review. Once those requests were reviewed, FMCSA determined that 96 percent were non-preventable by FMCSA, meaning that those crashes were not counted against the motor carrier or truck driver under the CSA Safety Measurement System (SMS).

Now FMCSA is looking to clarify those 16 categories of eligible crashes and to add four new categories:

1. A truck is struck on the side by a motorist operating in the same direction. (Currently, eligible side strikes are limited to the very rear of the truck.)
2. A truck is struck because another motorist was entering the roadway from a private driveway or parking lot.
3. A truck is hit by another motorist losing control of their vehicle.
4. Any other type of crash involving a commercial vehicle where a video demonstrates the sequence of events of the crash. This is a great benefit to ICSA members who utilize video cameras.

ICSA is preparing comments in support of the crash preventability proposal to be submitted by the June 12, 2023 due date and we encourage members to file their own comments in support of the proposal. After reviewing the comments, FMCSA will make necessary adjustments to the DataQs program and announce a start date for the expanded Crash Preventability Determination Program.