Not all accidents are the same. The Federal Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), requires carriers to follow certain procedures for keeping track of serious accidents involving commercial motor vehicles.
If an accident meets a certain criteria then it gets recorded as a DOT recordable accident.
Because most carriers operate across state lines or otherwise affect commerce in more than one state, the federal government has jurisdiction over these accidents.
Carriers must maintain records, such as accident reports, for three years. The DOT uses this data to determine the number of accidents per 1 million miles driven. DOT recordable accidents are used to determine your company’s safety rating.
It may also impact a carrier’s CSA score. Frequency of accidents can send a carrier into intervention status and these crashes may linger on your CSA Snapshot for 24 months or longer.
DOT-recordable accidents are required to be recorded on accident reports.
Criteria for DOT Recordable Accidents
To be considered a DOT recordable accident, an incident must meet at least one of the following criteria:
Fatality: If an accident involving a CMV results in the death of any person within 30 days of the incident, it is considered a DOT recordable accident.
Injury: If an accident involving a CMV results in an injury requiring immediate medical treatment away from the scene or bodily harm severe enough to prevent the injured person from performing their usual work, it is considered a recordable accident.
Disabling damage to a vehicle: If a CMV involved in an accident requires towing due to disabling damage, it is considered a recordable accident.
Regardless of who’s at fault, these accidents are DOT recordable accidents.
A DOT Recordable accident does not include
• An accident involving only boarding and alighting from a stationary motor vehicle.
• An accident involving only loading and unloading of cargo.
DOT recordable accident rules do not apply to every driver on the road. They apply to vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating higher than 26,000 lb for intrastate driving or 10,000 lb for interstate.
They also apply to passenger vehicles that are designed to transport more than 15 people (including the driver) and vehicles operating under DOT hazardous materials regulations.
Any carrier that receives an overall “unsatisfactory” rating will face sanctions and restrictions, including a prohibition on transporting hazardous materials or more than 15 passengers.
It’s important to know what qualifies as a DOT reportable accident so you can take the proper steps on the accident report and accident register.
