The FMCSA has updated the Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP). One of the changes significantly affects dash camera users. Here’s what you need to know.
Tom Bray
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has updated the Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP). This update is big news because FMCSA is expanding the types of crashes they review. One of the changes sifnificantly affects dash cam users.
What is the CPDP?
The CPDP allows a carrier to request a preventability review of a crash. If it is found not preventable, the crash will not be scored in the carrier’s Crash BASIC in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program,. “Not-preventable” means the carrier’s driver did not cause the crash and could not have avoided it.
For a crash to be reviewed, it has to fall into specific categories (struck in the rear, struck in the rear at the side, struck by a motorist going the wrong direction, etc.).
To request a preventability review for a crash that meets eligibility criteria, the carrier must:
- Initiate a DataQs request for data review (RDR) asking for a preventability determination.
- Provide a copy of the police accident report and any other documents to support their argument.
- Submit post-crash drug and alcohol test results if there was a fatality.
Additional Crash Types Eligible for Review Added
With this update, FMCSA is accepting preventability RDRs for more types of crashes. For example, one of the new categories is a crash where dash camera video provided by the carrier demonstrates the crash was not preventable.
Dash Camera Footage Could Make Any Crash Reviewable
This is a game-changer – any crash can be reviewed and determined to be not preventable, not just the ones that fall into specific categories. If video footage from a dash camera proves the crash was not preventable, FMCSA will review it and make a preventability determination.
Adding to the List of Reasons to Have Dash Cams
Many carriers have experienced the advantages of dash cameras. First, there is the exoneration power of dash cameras. Having video footage that clearly shows what happened when the crash occurred allows a carrier to settle accident claims quickly.
Second, there is the reduction in crashes many carriers using dash cameras have experienced. This is because dash cameras allow the carrier to locate problem behaviors and counsel, coach, and retrain the drivers involved. The benefit of fewer crashes is a reduction in claims losses and an improvement in the carrier’s Crash BASIC score in CSA.
This update to the Crash Preventability Determination Program provides an additional advantage to having dash cameras.
Timing
The FMCSA announced in a Federal Register, notice that the new eligibility criteria went into effect for crashes occurring on or after December 1, 2024. Therefore, if you had a crash that occurred on or after that date, you can ask for a preventability determination based on dash camera video footage alone.
Jeremy Wolfe
Donald Trump resumed control of the nation’s federal agencies this week. With a change in administration, what will agency management look like for 2025?
This is the first part of a three-part series on 2025’s regulatory outlook. You can read part two here. Part three will be linked here when it is published.
Agency rulemakings will likely slow down under a Trump administration, but there are still several key regulations that may impact carriers this year.
Industry experts from Scopelitis Law Firm and the Truckload Carriers Association shared their outlook on how the new administration will manage commercial carriers.
Fewer agency rulemakings
Agency rulemakings in general will likely slow down through 2025 and the rest of Trump’s term. EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation—including its subsidiaries the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration—will likely see fewer new regulations.
One of the most significant parts of another Trump administration is the return of agency deregulation. In the first month of his first term, Trump issued an executive order requiring a “two-for-one” deregulation effort. For every one new regulation with significant costs, two others needed to be removed.
Agencies move slower between presidents
The leadership transition should also slow down rulemaking processes, particularly in early 2025. Each new president involves widespread replacement of top agency officials.
“Somebody comes into the seat to lead FMCSA and they have to be caught up to speed on where they are on the rulemakings, brought up to speed on the rulemaking process and where they stand right now, as well as understanding all the background of those rules that were going on in the Biden administration that may or may not move forward in the Trump administration,” Heller said.
Trump already issued a hiring freeze and regulatory freeze on the first day of his administration. If the freezes mirror those of his first term, they may remain in effect for months.
“We are wondering if something like that still comes into play,” David Heller, VP of government affairs for TCA, told FleetOwner. “It was not necessarily agency specific. It could be two DOT rules that could be rolled back, that may not necessarily have anything to do with trucking, in order to institute a new rule that did pertain to trucking.”
The “two-for-one” order had a small impact on new regulatory costs, and Trump might pursue a more extreme measure this time. In December, he suggested a “ten-for-one” order for his next term.
Rulemakings carriers should watch
Transportation agencies will continue to develop new regulations, despite the slowdown. Regulators have several major new pending rules that could affect commercial carriers. Fleet managers should watch the following rules in 2025.
Broker transparency
FMCSA may issue a final rule on broker transparency in 2025. The agency issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in November 2024, “Transparency in Property Broker Transactions,” which makes it more difficult for brokers to avoid their obligation to disclose records to carriers.
Carriers have a right to the records of freight brokers’ transactions by law, but brokers use several workarounds to avoid real disclosure. This includes contract waivers, slow and manual paperwork, and an implied threat of retaliation. The NPRM proposed four steps to weaken brokers’ paperwork approach but did not address contract waivers or retaliation.
Scopelitis’s Sharma noted that broker transparency is a uniquely intrusive regulation but is likely supported under the second Trump administration.
“FMCSA’s recent proposed rulemaking is a case of regulatory intrusion into a transportation marketplace that Congress deregulated and intended to leave up to the markets. No analogous government mandate to service cost disclosure comes to mind, but that is what the FMCSA has proposed mandating,” Sharma said. “That said, it’s worth recalling that the first Trump administration elected to publish the petitions submitted by OOIDA and the Small Business Trucking Coalition, thus essentially initiating the rulemaking process.”
FMCSA will likely publish a final rule on broker transparency within the year.
Independent contractor rule
The U.S. Department of Labor’s independent contractor rule, which lays out how the department differentiates between employee and contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act, is a contentious issue in trucking. Independent contractor classification is a key policy issue for most trucking industry groups.
The first Trump administration’s DOL issued a final rule outlining its interpretation of FLSA in 2020. The definition departed from precedent established by case law in favor of an agency standard that was simpler and erred toward contractor status. The Biden administration issued a rule overriding that interpretation in 2024. The new rule mostly coincided with the original but moved closer to existing case law and, because of this, erred closer to employee status.
The Trump DOL now has the opportunity to issue another overriding rule, returning to an interpretation that resembles the 2020 final rule.
“We expect the president-elect to revert back to what he did in his previous administration and support the independent contractors as they are today,” Heller said.
However, this Trump term is different from the first. Labor issues may not be as easily predicted.
Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, was one of only three Republicans who voted against party lines in favor of the PRO Act. Trump also played a surprise pro-labor role weeks before his inauguration when he supported the International Longshoremen’s Association union in their negotiations with dock employers.
Despite the pro-labor twists in Trump’s ramp-up to presidency, Sharma also expects the 2020 rule to return.
“We anticipate that rule to be reinstated via the current multiple litigations challenging the Biden 2024 IC Test Rule,” Sharma said. “People were surprised by the nomination of former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, one of three Republican House members to vote for organized labor’s PRO Act, but we still believe a California-like ABC test (requiring new legislation) for federal wage and hour purposes is unlikely.”
CSA scores
FMCSA is working on an overhaul to its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. The agency proposed major revisions to CSA scores in early 2023 and announced further changes in December 2024. FMCSA may formally publish the revisions as a final rule in 2025.
CSA scoring through the Safety Measurement System is a major component of modern fleet operations, influencing everything from client relations and insurance rates to federal investigations.
Trucking industry stakeholders have criticized CSA scoring for not addressing how each state differs in its enforcement priorities.
“The biggest issue with CSA is almost always going to be its correctness to eliminate geographical biases,” Heller said. “As an industry, we shouldn’t be afraid to have our safety systems measured at the carrier level; we should insist it be done correctly.”
While FMCSA has regularly tweaked CSA scoring since 2010, the latest update still does not normalize for geography.
It is still unclear when FMCSA will publish the CSA overhaul final rule, but Scopelitis sees a good chance it will arrive this year.
“We anticipate the FMCSA will move forward with this proposal in 2025, even under a new administration,” Chris Eckhart, attorney with Scopelitis, told FleetOwner.
While the industry waits for a final rule, the agency allows carriers to preview what their new scoring might look like through the CSA Prioritization Preview website.
Crash Preventability Determination Program
FMCSA is also developing a final rule to update its Crash Preventability Determination Program. If a carrier suffers a crash and then shows FMCSA that it was non-preventable, that incident won’t affect the carrier’s CSA score.
The program began in 2020 and received regular adjustments since. FMCSA issued a notice for its latest update in December. The update adds four new crash types to the program’s existing 16 crash types, expanding which types of incidents are eligible under the program. The new crash types include accidents where another motorist lost control and where a video demonstrates the sequence of events.
“With motor carriers’ increasing use of onboard cameras, this additional crash type is a significant improvement to the CPDP,” Eckhart said.
Speed limiters
FMCSA and NHTSA are still working on a joint rulemaking to mandate speed limiters in heavy commercial vehicles. The agencies first issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in 2016.
“Speed limiters have been kicked down the road several times,” Heller said. “There were several due dates in which the agency was going to come out with a supplementary notice of proposed rulemaking.”
In the fall 2024 regulatory agenda, FMCSA and NHTSA suggested they would issue a supplementary notice of proposed rulemaking in mid-2025. If successful in publishing an NPRM, it would still take several months or years before the agencies issue a final rule. The final rule would then allow several months or years before the limiter requirements for OEMs take effect.
In addition to rulemaking delays, the agencies have also not yet shared the exact speed limit that their mandate would set. FMCSA initially proposed 68 mph in 2023 but quickly revoked the number.
“Because of the constant delay in issuing the SNPRM, we’re not wholly convinced that this rulemaking is going to be moving forward,” Heller said.
AEB mandate
FMCSA and NHTSA are planning a final rule to mandate automatic emergency braking systems on new heavy trucks.
The agencies issued a joint NPRM for the AEB rule in 2023. If the agencies do release the AEB final rule in 2025, it would still take multiple years to affect manufacturers. When NHTSA issued an AEB final rule for passenger vehicles in 2024, it set the effective date as September 2029.
AEB systems are also already popular among large carriers.
“I think the tea leaves almost always read that innovators are going to beat regulators,” Heller said. “And AEB is an innovation that carriers are already using.”
Carrier registration system
FMCSA is still working on its next version of an online carrier registration system, which could transform registration processes this year.
Carriers have to use several separate paper forms to manage and update their information. The agency hopes a new registration system can simplify carrier registration processes, forms, and verification through a single online platform.
The new FMCSA Registration System, or FRS, would replace the Unified Registration System (URS), which suffered from poor implementation. FMCSA first planned to develop URS in 1996, created the platform with only partial functionality in 2015, and then never finished it. URS today still only serves first-time applicants with their initial registrations.
FRS, if it lives up to the hype, would integrate several forms into a simplified series of questions and add more robust verification to combat fraud. FMCSA suggested it would launch FRS sometime in 2025.
Mark Schremmer
Addressing Highway Trust Fund shortfalls and a lack of truck parking were among the topics discussed at the House Highways and Transit subcommittee’s first hearing of the 119th Congress.
The subcommittee held the hearing “America Builds: Highways to Move People and Freight” on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., chairman of the subcommittee, used his opening statement to discuss inequities with the current Highway Trust Fund, which uses fuel taxes to pay for federal road and bridge projects. According to Rouzer, the fund hasn’t been fully solvent since 2008.
“We must also have a frank conversation about the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund – the main funding source for highway projects,” Rouzer said. “Since 2008, Congress has transferred approximately $275 billion to cover the shortfall of revenues as expenditures have grown.”
Although the problem is not a new one, the congressman said it is time for lawmakers to figure out a new funding mechanism, as electric vehicles are not contributing to the current system.
“Highway funding relies on a user-pay principle,” Rouzer said. “It’s pretty simple: You purchase fuel to fill up your vehicle to use the roads, and the fuel tax collected from that purchase is put into the Highway Trust Fund. However, electric vehicles, which are often heavier than their conventional counterparts because of the weight of their batteries, do not pay in the Highway Trust Fund.”
In previous sessions, a vehicle-miles-traveled tax and tolls have been presented as potential ways to correct the issue. However, a VMT tax has raised concerns over privacy, and the trucking industry has argued against efforts to create truck-only tolls.
Rouzer suggested that getting all vehicles to pay their fair share should be a priority.
“It is wholly unfair that an entire segment of users doesn’t contribute to the roads and bridges they use,” he said. “This won’t address the greater solvency issue, obviously, but we must rectify this so that all users are treated fairly and contribute to the systems on which they rely.”
Dennis Dellinger, president of Cargo Transporters, testified that funding should be generated in an equitable manner.
“The trucking industry is the leading payer into the Highway Trust Fund, contributing almost half of all revenues while representing less than 5% of road users,” Dellinger wrote in his submitted testimony. “While the trucking industry is proud to pay our fair share, Congressional attention and action is necessary to ensure a lasting, viable and equitable revenue source for continued infrastructure investments.”
Truck parking
The truck parking crisis across the nation has been well-documented. The 2019 Jason’s Law Report found that 98% of drivers regularly experience problems finding safe parking. According to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the American Trucking Associations, there is only one truck parking space for every 11 truckers nationwide.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., introduced the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act in the previous two sessions. The bill would allocate $755 million over three years to the construction of parking spots. According to the bill text, any project funded by the bill cannot include paid parking. All parking under the bill must be publicly accessible and free of charge.
Bost, who is expected to reintroduce the bill, asked Jim Tymon of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials if states would pursue funding for truck parking if Congress created a grant program.
“If there was a grant program for truck parking, states would be interested in that,” Tymon said. “I would say that it’s not just availability of funding on the state DOT side. A lot of the right-of-way that the state DOTs have control of, there is a restriction as to what they can do within that right-of-way, including establishing new rest areas and commercializing them to be able to support truck parking.”
Bost then asked Tymon for additional conversations with his staff to determine what would need to be done to make sure truck parking expansion was possible.
Plan Calls for Use of TMC ‘Recommended Practices’ as Training Guide
Eric Miller
A technician works on a Peterbilt truck engine. An individual now can become qualified as an inspector in as little as four months by following TMC’S Recommended Practices. (Peterbilt Motor Co.)
Federal regulators have granted a five-year exemption to American Trucking Associations that could help mitigate the tech shortage, and exempt motor carriers and intermodal equipment providers from the requirement that an individual must complete one year of training to conduct annual commercial motor vehicle inspections.
ATA said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s waiver, made public Jan. 16 in a Federal Register notice, will cut the time new technicians need to spend preparing to enter the workforce while maintaining high standards for safety and competency. The idea also has the potential to stem some of the nettlesome tech shortages.
Under the new policy requested by ATA in 2020, technicians would be allowed to skip the federally required one-year of training or experience needed to conduct CMV inspections and brake-related repair and maintenance provided they received training based on ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council Recommended Practices.
“TMC, through its study groups and task forces, has developed a robust set of Recommended Practices, and these RPs form the backbone of the knowledge leadership the council provides to its members and the industry,” TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell said. “This exemption recognizes that TMC’s RPs meet the industry standard for technical knowledge, and technicians who are trained on them are more than capable of performing essential work.”
The exemption applies to motor carriers, intermodal equipment providers and individuals, allowing them to self-certify that they have completed a training program based on TMC’s RPs. This training and certification, rather than the currently required year of additional training or work experience, “would likely achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level of safety provided by the regulatory requirements,” FMCSA said.
“Quite simply, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations just say if you want to be qualified to vehicle inspect, a person who is qualified to do brake-related maintenance or repair, you simply need a year of either schooling or experience or some combination of both to qualify you for that role takes a year,” Braswell told Transport Topics. “Now an individual can become qualified as an inspector in as little as four months if he or she uses TMC’S Recommended Practices.”
TMC has developed more than 500 Recommended Practices organized into 15 sections that outline individual procedures for inspecting, repairing or replacing components on commercial vehicles. The RPs are available in a document titled “TMC’s Recommended Practices Manual.”
“We believe that by allowing technicians trained in programs based on TMC’s Recommended Practices, the industry can make it easier and more efficient for new technicians to enter the industry,” Braswell said. “The industry continues to face a persistent shortage of technicians, so anything we can do to cut red tape and get students and young people onto the shop floor quickly will help address it.”
TMC does not actually administer the course.
“The school or the fleet has to follow the TMC guidelines, but there are no requirements that users be TMC members,” Braswell added.
The exemption applies to motor carriers, intermodal equipment providers and individuals, allowing them to self-certify that they have completed a training program based on TMC’s RPs.
“We believe that by allowing technicians trained in programs based on TMC’s Recommended Practices, the industry can make it easier and more efficient for new technicians to enter the industry,” Braswell said. “The industry continues to face a persistent shortage of technicians, so anything we can do to cut red tape and get students and young people onto the shop floor quickly will help address it.”
“FMCSA supports ATA’s TMC recommendation that the training program duration should be at least 540 hours (approximately 13.5 work weeks) for new individuals, divided into one-third classroom-based instruction and two-third laboratory hands-on based instruction,” the agency said.
Braswell said that the shortage of traditional diesel technicians is getting better.
“Still, if you take a look at the demand for diesel technicians there are about 9,700 new positions and about 31,000 replacement positions,” Braswell said. “So the total demand is 40,000 or 41,000, and, replacement positions are outpacing positions created by growth to a rate of about 4 to 1.”
Mark Schremmer
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted a limited five-year exemption to the American Trucking Associations from training or experience requirements related to conducting commercial motor vehicle inspections.
FMCSA announced the exemption in a notice that was published in the Federal Register on Thursday, Jan. 16.
Current regulations require motor carriers and intermodal equipment providers to ensure that individuals performing annual inspections of commercial motor vehicles, including individuals who inspect, maintain, repair or service CMV brake systems, have a total of at least one year of training or experience.
In 2021, ATA requested an exemption on behalf of individuals seeking inspector qualifications. Instead, ATA requested that FMCSA permit educators to self-certify their training programs based on the Technology and Maintenance Council’s recommended practices and permit technicians who complete those programs to be qualified to inspect commercial motor vehicles in less than one year.
The exemption request was supported by the American Bus Association.
The group said that the exemption would “positively impact the commercial motor vehicle industry by expanding accessibility and opportunities for professional development and staffing.”
FMCSA agreed that ATA’s Technology and Maintenance Council has developed a series of best practices that serve to give training providers the necessary content to deliver comprehensive training programs and assessments that provide individuals with the knowledge and skills to become qualified inspectors.
The agency said it has determined that “granting an exemption from the requirements that motor carriers and intermodal equipment providers ensure that individuals performing annual inspections have one year of training, experience or a combination thereof would likely achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level of safety provided by the regulatory requirements if the individuals instead successfully complete a performance-based inspector training program consistent with the Technology and Maintenance Council’s recommended practices.”
The exemption took effect Thursday, Jan. 16 and will run through Jan. 16, 2030.
FMCSA has adopted its proposed changes to its Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP), adding four new eligible crash types and broadening the definition of existing crash types to include indirect consequences of actions of other motorists. The new and updated eligibility criteria will apply to requests for data review (RDR) for crashes that occur on or after December 1, 2024. Crashes occurring prior to that date will be reviewed according to the prior criteria. FMCSA said it will announce on the CPDP website at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/crash-preventability-
determination-program when DataQs will be available to accept submissions of the new and updated crash types. The four new crash types are as follows:
- CMV was struck on the side by a motorist operating in the same direction.
- CMV was struck because another motorist was entering the roadway from a private driveway or parking lot.
- CMV was struck because another motorist lost control of their vehicle. The Police Accident Report (PAR) must specifically mention loss of control either in the citation, contributing factors, and/or PAR narrative.
- Any other type of crash involving a CMV where a video demonstrates the sequence of events of the crash.
In addition to the newly eligible situations that are reviewable, FMCSA has reworded several crash types to account for situations in which other motorists caused crashes that they were not directly involved in. For example, one prior description was “CMV was struck by a motorist driving in the wrong direction.” The new version is “CMV was struck because another motorist was driving in the wrong direction.” FMCSA noted that the new definitions now allow for review if a CMV was struck by a vehicle that had been struck by a motorist driving in the wrong direction, making an illegal turn, experiencing a medical issue, etc. FMCSA emphasized that the CPDP is limited to how crashes show up in the Safety Measurement System for the purpose of targeting enforcement and does not affect crash preventability determinations made through FMCSA safety investigations. Moreover, preventability determinations under CPDP will not affect carriers’ safety rating or ability to operate, FMCSA said. For the Federal Register notice, visit https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-28377.
