SMS BASIC Scores

As of December 4, 2015, pursuant to the FAST Act of 2015 being signed into law, the FMCSA removed BASIC scores from public view on its website. The CSA program is not going away, but BASIC scores will remain unavailable to the public until the FMCSA can implement a corrective action plan.


The majority of CSA information related to property carrier compliance and safety performance will no longer be displayed publicly on the FMCSA SMS Website.


SMS Safety Information

Carrier411 was the first carrier monitoring service to incorporate SMS BASIC scores as soon as data was released on December 12, 2010. SMS BASIC scores are released at the beginning of each month and do not change until they are released the following month.


Current and Historical Safety Measurement Information

We provide the most recent SMS BASIC Statistics and related information for all carriers in these categories:


  • • Unsafe Driving
  • • Hours of Service (HOS) Compliance
  • • Driver Fitness
  • • Controlled Substances and Alcohol
  • • Vehicle Maintenance

In addition to current BASIC scores, you can also see the complete BASIC scores history for any trucking company, as well as current and historical roadside inspection information.


Safety Measurement System (SMS)

Within the CSA 2010 Operational Model, the Safety Measurement System (SMS) quantifies the on-road safety performance of carriers and drivers to identify candidates for interventions, to determine the specific safety problems exhibited by a carrier or driver, and to monitor whether safety problems are improving or worsening. Now that CSA 2010 is implemented, SMS replaces the SafeStat system for rating carriers.


Weighted Point System for Rating Carriers

CSA 2010 uses a weighted point system for different violations as a part of its methodology to improve the way carriers are measured and rated. These weighted values are time weighted, divided by relevant inspections, and separated into peer groups. It will be the percentile ranking number that the FMCSA watches (not the individual weighted point totals) to determine if intervention is required.


SMS BASIC Categories

The carrier SMS uses a motor carrier's data from roadside inspections, including all safety-based violations, state-reported crashes, and the federal motor carrier census to quantify performance in the Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs). There are seven SMS BASIC categories: Unsafe Driving, Hours of Service (HOS) Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances and Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance (Not Publicly Available), and Crash Indicator (Not Publicly Available).


Please visit the CSA Website to learn more. Here is some general information about SMS BASIC scores, including the threshold for deficient scores in each BASIC category:


All inspection violations that pertain to a BASIC are assigned severity weights that reflect their association with crash occurrence and crash consequences.


CSA 2010 Unsafe Driving 1. Unsafe Driving

Operation of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by drivers in a dangerous or careless manner.


Score ranges from 0-100 or Insufficient Data
Deficient Score Threshold
Passenger HazMat Other
50 60 65
Carriers you use will likely be classified as Other

Example Violations: Speeding, reckless driving, improper lane change, and inattention.


CSA 2010 Hours of Service Compliance 2. Hours of Service (HOS) Compliance

Operation of CMVs by drivers who are ill, fatigued, or in non-compliance with the Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations. This BASIC includes violations of regulations pertaining to logbooks as they relate to HOS requirements and the management of CMV driver fatigue.


Score ranges from 0-100 or Insufficient Data
Deficient Score Threshold
Passenger HazMat Other
50 60 65
Carriers you use will likely be classified as Other

Example Violations: HOS, logbook, and operating a CMV while ill or fatigued.


CSA 2010 Driver Fitness 3. Driver Fitness

Operation of CMVs by drivers who are unfit to operate a CMV due to lack of training, experience, or medical qualifications.


Score ranges from 0-100 or Insufficient Data
Deficient Score Threshold
Passenger HazMat Other
65 75 80
Carriers you use will likely be classified as Other

Example Violations: Failure to have a valid and appropriate commercial driver’s license and being medically unqualified to operate a CMV.


CSA 2010 Controlled Substances/Alcohol 4. Controlled Substances/Alcohol

Operation of CMVs by drivers who are impaired due to alcohol, illegal drugs, and misuse of prescription or over-the-counter medications.


Score ranges from 0-100 or Insufficient Data
Deficient Score Threshold
Passenger HazMat Other
65 75 80
Carriers you use will likely be classified as Other

Example Violations: Use or possession of controlled substances/alcohol.


CSA 2010 Vehicle Maintenance 5. Vehicle Maintenance

Failure to properly maintain a CMV.


Score ranges from 0-100 or Insufficient Data
Deficient Score Threshold
Passenger HazMat Other
65 75 80
Carriers you use will likely be classified as Other

Example Violations: Brakes, lights, mechanical defects, and failure to make required repairs.


CSA 2010 Cargo Related 6. Cargo-Related  (Data Not Publicly Available)

Cargo-Related data will not be displayed in Carrier411, although it is part of CSA 2010. Failure to properly prevent shifting loads, spilled or dropped cargo, overloading, and unsafe handling of hazardous materials on a CMV.


FMCSA will show Cargo-Related BASIC violations only. Cargo-Related BASIC score and intervention status will not be on public display.

CSA 2010 Crash Indicator 7. Crash Indicator  (Data Not Publicly Available)
Crash Indicator data will not be displayed in Carrier411, although it is part of CSA 2010. Histories or patterns of high crash involvement, including frequency and severity. It is based on information from state-reported crashes.

After measurement is determined, the carrier is placed in a peer group (along with other carriers with similar numbers of inspections). Percentile scores from 0 to 100 are determined for each category by comparing the BASIC measurements of the carrier to measurements of other carriers in the peer group. 100 indicates the worst performance.


Unlike the SafeStat system, where scores of 75 or above were considered deficient by FMCSA standards, deficiency thresholds have changed with CSA 2010. Different threshold values will be based on the carrier's classification (passenger, hazardous materials, other).


TMS Software Integration

Integration with Carrier411 using our Web Services Interface is available though major TMS software providers including McLeod Software, TMW Systems, WolfByte Software, Strategy Systems, MercuryGate and others. Web services integration lets your brokerage software make on-demand remote procedure calls to interact with our system throughout the day in a real-time environment. We also offer a CSV File Download feature.


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