Commercial-Truck Violation Code Lookup

CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) is FMCSA's safety enforcement program. Each violation gets categorized into one of seven BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories): Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances & Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials Compliance, and Crash Indicator. Each BASIC has its own percentile rank — FMCSA intervenes when a carrier crosses the 65th percentile (50th for Hazmat and Passenger). Every violation we list is tagged with the BASIC it counts under.

OOS means the inspector finds a defect serious enough to take the driver or truck off the road on the spot. There are two types: vehicle OOS (truck cannot move from inspection site until corrected — usually means mobile mechanic or tow), and driver OOS (driver is removed; a qualified replacement has to arrive before the truck can continue). OOS criteria come from the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, updated annually by CVSA (Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance). About 21% of all roadside inspections result in at least one OOS — industry average. Our database tags every OOS-eligible violation explicitly.

Every violation stays in the SMS data for 24 months from the inspection date, with time-weighting: 3× points during months 0-6, 2× during 7-12, 1× during 13-24. After 24 months it drops off completely. PSP (Pre-Employment Screening) reports show driver-side violations for 36 months. Crash reports stay 24 months in CSA but are visible longer for insurance purposes.

Yes, through DataQs (dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov). You have 24 months from the inspection date to file a challenge. The two strongest grounds: (1) the underlying state citation was dismissed or reduced in court — submit court paperwork as evidence; (2) the inspector applied the wrong code. DataQs has roughly a 35-40% reversal rate when carriers submit clean documentation. Note: contesting a citation in state court (winning the ticket) is different from removing it from CSA — you have to do BOTH separately.

Each violation in the FMCSA Public Violation Severity Table has a weight from 1 (minor) to 10 (severe). The weight reflects how strongly the violation correlates with future crash risk (FMCSA's analysis). Examples: a stopped-clock HOS violation is weight 7-10 (high crash correlation); a parking light not working is weight 1-2 (low correlation). Time-weighted multiplier on top of severity is what moves your BASIC percentile.

They're separate. A state traffic ticket goes through state court — you pay a fine, you might lose CDL points. A FMCSA violation is the federal CSA record of the same incident — it counts toward your carrier's BASIC and the driver's PSP. Winning the state ticket does NOT automatically clear the FMCSA record. You have to file separately with DataQs and submit the court paperwork as evidence. Most drivers don't know this and end up with the FMCSA record sticking around for 24-36 months even after they win in court.