• The PSP is a voluntary program, and carriers get charged for its use.
• The PSP reports three years of violations and five years of crashes.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) offers the PSP to motor carriers to obtain:

• Crash records for the last five years, and
• Roadside inspection data for the last three years.

Rather than showing any conviction data, these records will show a driver’s involvement in all Department of Transportation (DOT) recordable crashes, as well as any violations a driver has been cited for following a roadside inspection during those spans of time, regardless of the driver’s employers.

The PSP only reports the events, and there is no “score” or “value” attached to the driver based on the number of crashes or violations . Carriers may decide whether to hire the driver candidate. A few facts they should keep in mind are:

• The PSP is a voluntary program and a best practice. Carriers will be charged a small fee for each applicant they wish to investigate, even if they enter the wrong data (e.g., driver’s license number) into the system.
• PSP has nothing to do with the Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) initiative and is merely another tool to help screen applicants.
• Carriers do not inherit PSP data. While the driver’s violations are not added to the carrier’s data, if a carrier hires a person with a poor roadside-inspection record, any new violations during a roadside inspection while driving for the carrier will be added to the carrier’s data.
• To use the PSP, carriers must agree to all legal obligations and consent in writing that they will only use the records for pre-employment screening. The obligations include:
  • Obtaining the written consent of the applicant to check the driving history, and
  • Abiding by the regulations provided under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, among others.

Employers can enroll for this service at the PSP website, https://www.psp.fmcsa.dot.gov.

How to use the PSP

Carriers should add PSP to the company’s hiring process and standards. Many rely on insurance companies, consulting services, attorneys, etc. to develop hiring standards. Carriers must decide what violations are disqualifiers and what thresholds are acceptable for applicants.

One method to evaluate applicants’ PSP data is to assign a point system for scoring purposes that holds:

• A higher value for more serious violations that they should have managed, and
• A lower score for minor violations that may be considered minimal.

Whatever process is chosen, it is wise to state the standards:

• On the application form,
• During the recruiting process, and
• On the company website.

Carriers may be required by their insurance companies to use the PSP to be considered insurable. As the program gains acceptance, it may become financially wise to hire only those with proven safe driving records through the PSP data.