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When a motor carrier is audited by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the investigator will look for certain acute and critical and “red flag” violations. If such violations are found, they could lead to some type of enforcement action under the FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA). The violations are taken into consideration when assessing the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs).
All motor carriers are subject to enforcement action for committing what the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) deems red-flag, acute, and critical violations.
Red-flag violations. During the course of a motor carrier investigation, the safety investigator will look at driver histories for egregious violations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. These violations are sometimes referred to as “red-flag violations” and are always investigated as part of a carrier investigation. If a red-flag violation is found, the investigator will look to see if the violation has been corrected. Any driver violations identified and addressed during carrier investigations that are not corrected may result in a Notice of Violation or Notice of Claim against the individual driver.
The following are the current red-flag violations, along with the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) to which they correspond:
BASIC | Section | Violation Description |
Driver Fitness | 383.21 | Operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) with more than one driver’s license. |
Driver Fitness | 383.23(a)(2) | Operating a CMV without a valid commercial driver’s license (CDL). |
Driver Fitness | 383.51(a) | Driving a CMV (CDL) while disqualified. |
Driver Fitness | 383.51A-SIN | Driving a CMV while CDL is suspended for a safety-related or unknown reason and in the state of driver’s license issuance. |
Driver Fitness | 383.51A-SOUT | Driving a CMV while CDL is suspended for safety-related or unknown reason and outside the driver’s license state of issuance. |
Driver Fitness | 383.91(a) | Operating a CMV with improper CDL group. |
Driver Fitness | 391.11 | Unqualified driver. |
Driver Fitness | 391.11(b)(5) | Driver lacking valid license for type of vehicle being operated. |
Driver Fitness | 391.11(b)(7) | Driver disqualified from operating CMV. |
Driver Fitness | 391.15(a) | Driving a CMV while disqualified. |
Driver Fitness | 391.15A-SIN | Driving a CMV while disqualified. Suspended for safety-related or unknown reason and in the state of driver’s license issuance. |
Driver Fitness | 391.15A-SOUT | Driving a CMV while disqualified. Suspended for a safety-related or unknown reason and outside the driver’s license state of issuance. |
Controlled Substances/Alcohol | 392.4(a) | Driver uses or is in possession of drugs. |
Controlled Substances/Alcohol | 392.5(a) | Possession/use/under influence of alcohol less than 4 hours prior to duty. |
HOS Compliance | 395.13(d) | Driving after being declared out-of-service (OOS). |
Vehicle Maintenance | 396.9(c)(2) | Operating an OOS vehicle. |
Acute/critical violations in the SMS. Safety Measurement System (SMS) assessments in each BASIC consider both percentiles and acute and critical violations related to that BASIC. If a carrier is found with one or more acute and/or critical violations within the past 12 months during an investigation, the carrier will receive an alert symbol in the corresponding BASIC. This symbol denotes that the carrier may be prioritized for interventions or further monitoring. The details of the violation will be displayed on the SMS Website in the carrier’s investigation results related to that BASIC.
Acute and critical violations are recorded during Onsite and Offsite Investigations. These violations are defined in the current Safety Fitness Procedures ().
Examples of critical violations are false reports of record of duty status and failing to maintain a driver qualification file on each driver employed.
A complete list of acute and critical violations can be found in 49 CFR 385 Appendix B.