Roadside Inspection Myths Busted

By Brian J. Riker

I’m sure almost everyone reading this has had an inspection from motor carrier enforcement sometime in their career, probably more than one, and likely at least one they felt was incorrect or unfair. Fortunately, there is a process for reviewing and correcting these reports, although it is somewhat broken and ineffective.

Myth #1 – Roadside inspections don’t mean anything if I don’t get a citation.

False. The Officer didn’t do you a favor by only writing the inspection report; in fact, they made it more difficult to challenge their work without an accompanying citation.

Inspections conducted on commercial vehicles by motor carrier enforcement officers are reported to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Safety Management System as part of their Compliance Safety and Accountability (CSA) program. This database is used by law enforcement to decide if your company should be flagged for more roadside inspections or if they should be audited at your office. Insurance companies also use this score (or their own version of it such as CAB) as part of their formula for rating insurance.

These violations are presumed accurate just because the inspecting officer said so, and as such, go onto your company safety score immediately. Inspections that don’t result in a citation are the hardest to challenge and have corrected or removed from the SMS record.

When you are given a citation to accompany an inspection report and then successfully challenge that citation in Court, the FMCSA must remove the inspection results from your record if you ask them to.

With an inspection that does not result in a citation, the only way to challenge it is to request a DataQ, which is sent back to the same Officer that wrote the violation in the first place. It is rare that the Officer will change their mind.

Myth #2 – These DOT violations don’t matter to me as a driver, they go against the company.

As a driver, CDL or not, your interactions with DOT enforcement follow you to an extent. Many employers, or their insurance underwriter, will pull your Pre-employment Screening Program (PSP) report from the FMCSA before making a hiring decision. This report shows your prospective new employer, all crashes for the past five years and roadside inspection results for the previous three years. This report can help them, or their insurance company, decide if you will help or hurt their overall SMS score or if you are just too risky to hire.

A lot of insurance companies also use this data to double check your “clean” driving record. It is possible to have an MVR report from your licensing state that shows no tickets or crashes but then find multiple serious DOT violations, such as hours of service or overweight reports, on their PSP record. These patterns are indicative of a problem driver, one that disregards the rules, and as such many insurance companies will disqualify them or at least charge more for the risk they are assuming.

Myth #3 – It isn’t worth filing a DataQ challenge, the Officer is always right.

Unfortunately for companies, when a poor driver leaves the results of their behaviors stay on their SMS score and insurance loss runs for many years to follow, so they need to be selective in hiring. This is why as a professional driver it is very important for you to protect your driver’s license and SMS scores, and as an employer it is equally important to keep the problem drivers out of the company in the first place.

That said, to make the best possible hiring decisions we need the best possible data. That is where DataQ challenges come in handy. Data Quality, or DataQ for short, is the process currently used by the FMCSA to correct erroneously reported information. Both a motor carrier and a driver can file these review requests online themselves for free. A third-party professional service is not required although they can be beneficial, especially with complex challenges.

Never accept an inspection report or citation at face value and always seek the opinion of an expert. Like everybody else, law enforcement officers don’t always get it right, and contrary to popular opinion Courts are not out to get you. Most Judges are interested in seeing justice served -not in destroying someone’s career- which means they usually are willing to work with you even when you are guilty if your attitude is one of respect and gratitude.

How do I challenge a violation?

A good challenge begins with a thorough investigation, which starts with asking the Officer to point out the violation to you so that you can fully understand what they are claiming. If it is safe to do so, take plenty of pictures of the area(s) in question (both close up and distant) being sure to make it clear you are still at the inspection location. These will allow an in-depth review of the alleged violation to determine if it is in fact a violation. Photos are key to a successful challenge either in Court or thru the DataQ process. If you must make repairs or corrections before continuing, or even later at a repair shop, have the condition before and after well documented to support your position that there may not have been a violation.

You can then log onto the DataQ website at https://dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov/ and submit your evidence, explanation and request a review. Often these go back to the same Officer, or their Supervisor, so be sure to be accurate and polite in your portrayal of the events as they happened. You will receive a response within 30 days, although it can take longer and some back and forth with additional comments and information for more complex challenges.

If a citation was issued along with the inspection report wait until after trial to file your DataQ challenge. If the citation is dismissed, or amended, then nothing beyond a copy of the court record needs to be submitted to have the report updated. If no citation was issued, you can file a DataQ challenge as soon as you have gathered enough supporting documentation to prove that there was no violation at the time of the inspection.

Bottom line, we all make mistakes. It is on you as a professional to know the rules and regulations that govern your business. Knowing what is permissible goes a long way in avoiding inspections with violations, and when incorrectly accused of a violation helping to set the record straight. Insurance companies are watching your DOT safety record closely so it is very important to challenge anything that may be incorrect. Your company’s survival may depend on it.