FMCSA Expands Crash Types Eligible for Preventability Review

In December 2024, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) finalized changes that widened the kinds of truck and bus crashes it will review for preventability. A notice published on December 4, 2024 confirmed the updates to the Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP) that FMCSA had proposed in April 2023, added four new eligible crash types, and set the date from which they would apply.

How the program works

Under the CPDP, motor carriers and drivers can file a request for data review in FMCSA's DataQs system asking the agency to decide whether a crash was preventable. Since a May 2020 notice, the program had accepted 16 specific crash types. A "not preventable" finding matters because it changes how the crash counts in the agency's Safety Measurement System (SMS).

FMCSA received 60 unique comments on its April 2023 proposal from carriers, owner-operators, industry groups and safety consultants. The agency said the comments largely supported the changes.

Broader existing crash types

FMCSA adopted its proposed rewording of the existing crash types as planned. The agency said the changes would cover more scenarios, including multi-vehicle crashes and crashes where the commercial vehicle was not the striking vehicle. For example, a type that applied when a commercial vehicle was struck by a driver with a medical issue was reworded to cover a commercial vehicle struck because another motorist had a medical issue. That allowed for indirect strikes, where the motorist hits another vehicle that then hits the truck.

FMCSA kept its existing "wrong direction" criteria, which required the other vehicle to be completely in the wrong lane, despite requests to allow partial crossings of the center line.

Four new crash types

The notice added these eligible types:

1. a commercial vehicle struck on the side by a motorist travelling in the same direction;
2. a commercial vehicle struck by a motorist entering the roadway from a private driveway or parking lot;
3. a commercial vehicle struck by a motorist who lost control, where the police accident report specifically mentions loss of control;
4. any other crash involving a commercial vehicle where video shows the sequence of events.

Commenters suggested many more types. FMCSA declined to add others, saying many were already covered and that crashes not listed could still qualify if a video of the crash was submitted.

Start date and limits

The new and updated types were not retroactive. FMCSA said it would accept requests under them for crashes occurring on or after December 1, 2024, and would announce on its CPDP website when DataQs was ready to take them. Earlier crashes would be judged under the May 2020 criteria.

A police accident report remained required, and the burden stayed on the submitter to show with compelling evidence that a crash was eligible and not preventable.

No change to how results are displayed

Some commenters asked FMCSA to drop not-preventable crashes from SMS entirely or to pause their use while a review was pending. The agency declined. Crashes found not preventable would still be listed publicly on SMS in a separate table and left out of the carrier's Crash Indicator BASIC, while preventable and undecided crashes would still count. Only not-preventable findings would be noted on a driver's Pre-Employment Screening Program record.

FMCSA said a preventability determination does not assign fault or legal liability for a crash.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of December 2024. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.