391.31 — No road test certificate
49 CFR 391 • Driver Fitness BASIC • Severity 1/10
What this violation means
Driver has no road-test certificate or equivalent (CDL skills test, prior employer's road test). 1 SMS point. Documentation deficiency more than safety issue.
Why this gets cited
DQ File incomplete at hire. Road test conducted but certificate lost.
How to fix / prevent
Issue road-test certificate at hire (or accept CDL skills test as equivalent per 391.33). File in DQ File.
Out-of-service criteria
No — this violation is not typically out-of-service eligible. The inspector will note 391.31 on the inspection report (form MCS-63), but the truck/driver can usually continue after the inspection ends. It still counts against the carrier in CSA scoring (severity 1/10 weight, time-weighted over 24 months) and shows on the driver's PSP record. A pattern of these non-OOS violations across multiple inspections is what triggers FMCSA intervention — a single citation rarely does.
CSA / SMS impact
391.31 carries a severity weight of 1/10 in FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS). Higher weights mean faster CSA percentile movement. Combined with a time-weighting factor (1× for citations within the last 6 months, decaying over 24 months), this violation can move your Driver Fitness BASIC percentile significantly if it stacks with similar citations across your fleet. The threshold for FMCSA intervention is the 65th percentile for most BASICs (50th for Hazmat and Passenger Carrier). Once you cross that, FMCSA can send a Warning Letter, Off-Site Investigation, or full Compliance Review.
How to read this: a single citation rarely puts you over threshold — it's the pattern. Track your inspection rate per power unit and aim for OOS rate under 5% (industry average is 21%).