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The ISS uses the carrier’s safety performance data to generate an ISS “score” that helps an inspection officer decide if an inspection is necessary.

Scope

When DOT roadside inspection officers are determining whether or not to inspect a commercial motor vehicle and/or its driver, they often turn to the Inspection Selection System (ISS).

Regulatory citations

  • None

Key definitions

  • Commercial motor vehicle (CMV): Any self-propelled or towed motor vehicle used on a highway in interstate commerce to transport passengers or property when the vehicle:
    • Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating, or gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight, of 4,536 kg (10,001 pounds) or more, whichever is greater; or
    • Is designed or used to transport more than 8 passengers (including the driver) for compensation; or
    • Is designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver, and is not used to transport passengers for compensation; or
    • Is used in transporting material found by the Secretary of Transportation to be hazardous under 49 U.S.C. 5103 and transported in a quantity requiring placarding under regulations prescribed by the Secretary under 49 CFR, subtitle B, Chapter I, Subchapter C.
  • Driver: Any person who operates any commercial motor vehicle
  • Motor carrier: A for-hire motor carrier or a private motor carrier. The term includes a motor carrier’s agents, officers and representatives as well as employees responsible for hiring, supervising, training, assigning, or dispatching of drivers and employees concerned with the installation, inspection, and maintenance of motor vehicle equipment and/or accessories. For purposes of Subchapter B, this definition includes the terms employer and exempt motor carrier.
  • Roadside inspections: Examinations that a certified Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) inspector (usually state or local law enforcement personnel) conducts on individual CMVs and drivers to determine if they are in compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and/or Hazardous Materials Regulations.

Summary of requirements

How it works. The ISS is a quick, easy-to-use “decision-making aid” to guide law enforcement officers in selecting vehicles and drivers for roadside inspection. The ISS takes the fairly complicated data from the Safety Measurement System (SMS) that is operated by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which rates carriers based on their safety performance, and packages it into an easy-to-use format for officers on the road.

The ISS assigns a single number between 0 and 100 to a carrier based on its safety performance in each of the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) that the SMS tracks: Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance, Driver Fitness, Drugs and Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance, and the Crash Indicator. This number is then used to generate a recommendation of Pass, Optional, or Inspect to be used by inspectors when selecting vehicles and drivers for inspection. Carriers that have a recommendation of “Inspect” or “Optional” see a lot more roadside inspections than carriers that have the “Pass” recommendation.

Though ISS scores are not available to the public, motor carriers can log into the FMCSA’s Portal website to see their scores:

  • Carriers that have an ISS numerical score of 75 to 100 will have the recommendation of “Inspect.” The carriers that will end up with the Inspect recommendations are (highest priority to the lowest).
  • Carriers that have a numerical score under 50 will have the recommendation of “Pass.”
  • Carriers with an ISS numerical score from 50-74 will be in the “optional” category.

As long as the FMCSA has enough data on the carrier, and the carrier has no BASICs that are over the intervention threshold, the carrier will end up with a score of under 50 and a recommendation of Pass.

Why it is important to know where you stand? Very few inspections are conducted on the roadside based on “random selection.” Most of the time, the officer has a reason for selecting a certain vehicle and driver for inspection. The two most common reasons include:

  • An existing violation was seen. This can include a driving violation (such as speeding), a vehicle violation (light not working, excessive window tinting), and entering an inspection facility with an obvious problem (overweight, loose cargo securement devices, lights not working). Many times the initial violation was minor when compared to the other violations that were discovered during the inspection that followed.
  • ISS score and recommendation. The officer (either at a fixed facility or on the road) enters the carrier’s DOT number into their system and sees the carrier’s ISS numerical score and recommendation. By the way, the officers can also see other information on the carrier, and even the vehicle (how long since the vehicle in question has been inspected, what BASICs the carrier is deficient in, what the carrier’s violation rate is in various areas, etc.).
The bottom line is that the better the carrier is performing as measured by the FMCSA’s SMS, the less likely the carrier is to be on the “Inspect” or “Optional” recommendation.
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['Enforcement - DOT']
['Roadside Inspections']
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