What FMCSA Publishes
Every motor carrier operating in interstate commerce is assigned a USDOT number, and FMCSA maintains public records tied to it. The two systems most often used are the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) system, which returns a carrier snapshot — legal name, DBA, address, fleet size, driver count, operating authority, insurance on file, and a summary of recent crashes and inspections — and the Safety Measurement System (SMS), which organizes roadside inspection and violation data into categories.
The DOT number is on the tractor's door and generally on the Florida crash report. It is the key that makes everything else searchable, which is why our post-crash checklist puts capturing it near the top.
The Seven BASIC Categories
SMS sorts roadside inspection violations into Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories. Each maps to a body of federal regulation, which is what makes them useful in a claim: a violation is not an opinion about the carrier, it is a documented failure to meet a specific rule.
| BASIC | What It Covers |
|---|---|
| Unsafe Driving | Speeding, reckless driving, improper lane change, inattention — 49 CFR Parts 392 and 397. |
| Crash Indicator | History of state-reported crashes. Not publicly displayed in the same way as other categories. |
| Hours-of-Service Compliance | Driving beyond limits and log falsification — 49 CFR Parts 392 and 395. See how the HOS clocks work. |
| Vehicle Maintenance | Brakes, lights, tires, defects, and failure to make required repairs — 49 CFR Parts 393 and 396. |
| Controlled Substances/Alcohol | Use or possession violations — 49 CFR Parts 382 and 392. |
| Hazardous Materials Compliance | Release, containment, and placarding — 49 CFR Part 397. |
| Driver Fitness | Invalid license, medical qualification, and driver qualification file failures — 49 CFR Parts 383 and 391. |
What the Scores Do Not Mean
Three limits are worth stating plainly, because carrier records get over-read in both directions.
- A percentile is a comparison, not a grade. SMS percentiles rank a carrier against a peer group of carriers with a similar number of relevant inspections. A high percentile means more violations than most of its peers, not a specific probability of a crash.
- Exposure distorts everything. A carrier that runs more miles through more inspection-heavy states accumulates more inspections, and a carrier with too few inspections may show no data at all rather than a good record.
- The scores are not automatically admissible. Federal law has restricted the public display and evidentiary use of certain SMS percentile information, and admissibility of safety data in a specific case is a question for the court under the applicable rules. The underlying inspection reports and violation records are a separate matter from the composite scores built on top of them.
How the Record Is Actually Used in a Case
The safety record is rarely the proof of anything by itself. It is a map that tells you what to ask for in discovery, and it can support claims that go beyond the driver's conduct on the day of the crash.
- Negligent hiring, retention, training, and supervision. A documented history of hours-of-service or driver fitness violations goes to what the carrier knew about how it was running its fleet. This is a direct claim against the company, separate from vicarious liability for the driver.
- Negligent maintenance. A vehicle maintenance violation history frames a brake failure or tire blowout case as a systems failure rather than an unlucky component.
- Broker and shipper selection. Where a broker arranged the load, a carrier's public record at the time of the tender is relevant to whether the selection itself was reasonable.
- Punitive damages. Florida requires clear and convincing evidence and a pleading gateway under Fla. Stat. §§ 768.72 and 768.73. Fault itself is still allocated under Fla. Stat. § 768.81, and the filing deadline under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a) runs regardless of what the safety record shows. A pattern of the same violation, known to management and uncorrected, is the kind of showing that gateway contemplates — though most cases never reach it.
Checking a Carrier Yourself
- Find the USDOT number on the crash report or from photographs of the tractor door.
- Pull the SAFER snapshot to confirm the carrier's legal name, operating status, and whether insurance is on file. Legal name matters: the entity on the door is not always the entity that must be sued.
- Check the SMS record for inspection volume and the distribution of violations across BASICs. Look at what the violations are, not just how many.
- Note out-of-service rates. An inspection that ended with the vehicle or driver placed out of service is a more serious finding than a paperwork citation.
- Look for the trailer's owner separately. Tractor and trailer are frequently owned by different companies, and the trailer's maintenance history is its own record.
- Save everything you find, with the date. Public records are updated on a rolling basis and what is displayed today may not be what is displayed in six months.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I look up a trucking company's safety record?
What are the FMCSA BASIC categories?
Does a bad safety score mean the trucking company is liable for my crash?
Are FMCSA safety scores admissible in a Florida truck accident case?
Shiner Law Group, P.A.
Founded by David I. Shiner, Esq. · AV Preeminent® rated · Florida Bar member since 2002
Shiner Law Group was founded by David I. Shiner, Esq., a Nova Southeastern University law graduate, a member of The Florida Bar since 2002, and AV Preeminent® rated by Martindale-Hubbell. The firm represents injured people across Florida from offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Wellington, and Belle Glade, and handles truck accident cases on contingency: free consultations, and no fee unless there is a recovery.
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