How safety culture and technology improve CSA scores

Any company that has a fleet considers the safety of drivers a top priority, and for good reason.

Beyond the immediate concern for your drivers and others on the road, vehicle accidents are costly. They drain resources through repairs, lost productivity and lasting damage to your reputation. This makes your safety program one of the most important parts of fleet operations. 

To measure the effectiveness of fleet safety efforts, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses a data-driven compliance program known as Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA). Its mission is simple: identify high-risk behaviors to prevent commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities. 

Managing your fleet’s FMCSA CSA scores is an essential element of an effective and proactive safety program, especially when your vehicles are facing a roadside inspection. During an inspection, vehicles, accessories and drivers are scrutinized to determine if they are considered safe to be on the road. The data from those inspections also goes into your CSA scores.

What is a CSA score? The 7 BASICs 

FMCSA uses the Safety Measurement System (SMS) to determine your fleet’s CSA scores. The system organizes safety data into seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories called BASICs. These include: 

1. Unsafe driving: Speeding, reckless driving or improper lane changes. 
2. Crash indicator: History of reportable crashes. 
3. HOS compliance: Ensuring drivers are alert and follow hours-of-service regulations. 
4. Vehicle maintenance: Proper pre- and post-trip inspections and addressing defects. 
5. Controlled substances/alcohol: Misuse of drugs or alcohol. 
6. Hazardous materials compliance: Improper packaging or labeling of dangerous goods. 
7. Driver fitness: Valid licenses and medical certificates.¹

Each BASIC contributes to percentile scores (0-100) comparing your carrier to others with a similar number of inspections. You don’t "pass" or "fail" a CSA score — lower percentiles mean better performance and higher percentiles mean you carry more safety risk than your peers. 

All of the vehicles in your fleet are tracked by your organization’s USDOT number. CSA scores are assigned to all motor carriers operating under a USDOT number, not individual drivers. There is no true "driver CSA score" because driver violations affect the carrier’s CSA score. However, an owner-operator with their own USDOT number would have a CSA score. 

What is a good CSA score for a trucking company?  Zero is a "perfect" FMCSA CSA score. Because scores are percentiles (comparing your performance to other similar fleets), a lower number is always better.  0-49%: Generally considered "good" or "safe."  50-64%: "Warning" territory where you may see increased roadside inspections.  65%+: This is the common CSA intervention threshold. Once a fleet crosses this mark in most categories, it triggers FMCSA actions ranging from warning letters to full-scale on-site audits.2

How CSA scores are calculated and weighted over time 

The FMCSA uses a weighted calculation based on every roadside inspection and crash report from the last 24 months. A two-part formula based on severity and time weighting is what determines your scores. Every item on the CSA violation points list is assigned a numerical value from 1 to 10 based on its relationship to crash risk.

• Low severity (1-3 points): These are typically documentation or minor equipment issues. For example, a broken taillight is usually a 3.
• High severity (7-10 points): These are "red flag" violations that typically lead to accidents. An HOS violation or reckless driving can be scored at 7 to 10.²

Another key factor is time weighting. The impact of a violation on your score depends on how recently it occurred. During the first six months after an incident, additional violations carry the most weight and are assigned a 3x multiplier. For example, a high-severity, 10-point violation within six months following a violation will hit your profile as a whopping 30 points.

As time passes, that burden begins to lift. Violations between six and 12 months old are reduced to a 2x multiplier, and at the 12-to-24-month window they are weighted at their original value. This structure ensures that while recent mistakes are penalized heavily, fleets have a clear path to recovery by maintaining clean inspections over time.

For roadside inspections: The Inspection Selection System (ISS)

While your CSA profile provides the long-term view of fleet safety, your Inspection Selection System (ISS) score is what affects your operation in real time. The CSA is the underlying safety measurement system used by the FMCSA, but your ISS score is how that data gets used by inspectors. Your ISS score is derived from CSA data. Your CSA score impacts your ISS score, but your ISS score does not alter your CSA score.¹

Unlike CSA percentiles that compare your fleet’s performance to others, the ISS score is typically a 1-100 numerical value focused solely on your fleet. If your CSA score is a monthly report card, the ISS is a real-time stoplight for inspectors:

• 0-50 (Pass): Low risk; you're rarely pulled aside at weigh stations
• 51-74 (Optional): Middle ground; at the inspector's discretion 
• 75-100 (Inspect): High risk; you are a priority for inspection¹

How does this work operationally?

1. CSA data is used to calculate your ISS score.
2. Inspectors use the ISS in real time to decide whether to conduct an inspection at roadside enforcements or weigh stations.
3. If an inspection occurs, violations (or a clean inspection) are recorded and added to FMCSA’s system, where it helps determine whether you are prioritized for future inspections.
4. Improving your CSA score lowers your ISS score, meaning you are pulled for fewer inspections over time. Inspections with no violations can help improve your safety profile. Violations, on the other hand, will raise your CSA score, ISS score and the chances of being pulled over in the future.

Certain infractions or an unsafe vehicle may trigger out-of-service orders, meaning that the vehicle cannot continue to be operated until safety issues have been corrected. Drivers can also be placed out-of-service.¹

Want to evaluate your fleet operations against 20 industry best practices? Download our Fleet Performance Checklist to see how your fleet scores. 

Cleaning up your Vehicle Maintenance BASIC 

Vehicle maintenance is a big deciding factor for your fleet’s inspection clearance. During CSA roadside inspections, inspectors consider maintenance records as well as observable defects like inoperable required lights, underinflated or flat tires and fluid leaks. Smart use of technology can be a big differentiator when it comes to keeping more vehicles in good working condition and on the road.

Telematics can help streamline maintenance processes, leading to healthier vehicles and decreasing the chance of being found in violation during an inspection. The right system provides up-to-the-minute data on vehicle condition via automatic mileage calculations, daily odometer updates and notifications when maintenance intervals are reached. With this continuous monitoring, engine issues can be identified early, making vehicles safer to drive and helping to stay in compliance with governmental requirements. 

You can leverage connected vehicle maintenance management software for detailed data on:

• Engine diagnostics: Includes current battery voltage, coolant temperature, powertrain malfunctions, intake valve issues and oxygen sensor problems. 
• Engine hour tracking and driver behavior data: Use this data to get a better picture of how vehicles are used on the road. 
• Service record tracking: Receive proactive reminders for routine maintenance and automatically track vehicle service and date of completion, regardless of provider.

Coaching drivers on presentation and preparing to pass roadside inspection

While mechanical vehicle health is the foundation, knowing how you can prepare for and pass roadside inspections also involves a layer of human strategy. Many citations are subjective, and an inspector’s first impression can set the tone for the entire encounter.

A key part of any roadside inspection guide should be driver coaching. Beyond maintaining a clean and tidy cab, train drivers to remain polite and professional. Having all paperwork — especially the ELD data transfer process — ready and organized demonstrates a culture of compliance. When a driver is calm and can quickly produce requested documents, it signals to the inspector that the fleet is well-managed. 

Tackling the Unsafe Driving BASIC

While maintenance issues often get a vehicle pulled over, the Unsafe Driving BASIC carries the most weight in the eyes of FMCSA.² This category is heavily dependent on driver behavior, making it both hard to control and yet critical to monitor.

Data gleaned from GPS fleet tracking systems, along with industry research, helps us with driver risk profiling. Drivers with a high frequency of unsafe driving events are statistically more likely to be involved in a crash. In fact, drivers who have more than two stop sign violations are 260% more likely to be in a crash and more than three overspeeding events increase crash likelihood by 230%.³

Because unsafe driving behaviors contribute to CSA scores, fleets should embrace technology that helps improve accident prevention measures and keep drivers safe on the road. Telematics and integrated AI dashcams assist in monitoring these behaviors and helping with predictive risk factor mapping by tracking key driving behaviors.

This data also helps drivers develop greater awareness of their behaviors through proactive coaching.

Elevate your fleet safety program with technology. Download the ebook to learn how to better protect your fleet with integrated AI video.

Texting while driving: A severity weight of 10

If there is one area that leaves little room for error, it is mobile device usage. Under FMCSA’s severity weighting system, a single violation for using a handheld device while driving carries a weight of 10 — the highest possible score on the scale.⁴

Because of the 3x time-multiplier discussed earlier, a texting violation could effectively mean a 30-point hit to your profile. To protect your business and your drivers, a strict, zero-tolerance "no texting while driving" policy has become a necessity.

To hold drivers accountable to this policy, AI dashcams can notify drivers and managers when they use a phone. They also provide a wide range of benefits, such as:

• In-cab audio alerts: Drivers are alerted in near real-time to unsafe driving events or behaviors, such as phone usage or reckless driving. 
• Coaching opportunities: Managers can use recorded footage to coach safe driving practices and discuss safety habits. 
• Helpful insights: Verizon Connect’s integrated video solution utilizes AI to provide useful analysis and context alongside video footage so managers can understand what’s important and take action. 

Building a safety-first culture across your fleet

The most sophisticated technology in the world is only as effective as the culture supporting it. To truly lower your ISS score and stay below CSA intervention thresholds, safety cannot feel like a series of mandates from the top. It must be woven into the fabric of daily operations.

The most successful fleets frame technology like AI dashcams and telematics as tools for professional development. When drivers understand that these systems are there to exonerate them in the event of a false claim and provide the data needed to keep them safe, the narrative shifts from surveillance to support.

Smart fleets use driver incentive programs to motivate safe driving by recognizing what drivers are doing right, not just flagging mistakes. One of the most effective ways to maintain a "0" score is through gamification and incentives.

• Recognition programs: Rewarding the "Driver of the Month" based on data-driven safety scores. 
• Financial incentives: Tying quarterly bonuses to low violation rates or clean roadside inspections. 
• Transparency: Sharing fleet-wide progress toward safety goals to build a sense of collective pride.

When safety is gamified, compliance becomes a point of professional pride and a competitive advantage, making it easier to retain high-quality drivers who value a safe working environment.

A safer fleet is also a more sustainable one. By working with vehicles daily, fleet managers learn how to improve the most strategic areas of the company so they can continue to advance and not stagnate. 

Basic daily actions can include:

• Monitoring the team’s driving behavior and taking action to prevent risky driving practices 
• Analyzing planned routes (which ones are safer, where have accidents occurred, which are susceptible to traffic jams, etc.) 
• Knowing precisely which vehicles require more maintenance (due to mileage, type of use, etc.) 
• Knowing each fleet vehicle’s carbon footprint 
• Monitoring gas emissions and the direct relationship with fuel consumption

By prioritizing safety, fleet leaders move beyond basic FMCSA compliance and systematically build a more efficient, profitable and sustainable business for the long haul.

Want help improving your CSA scores and protecting your bottom line? We’re ready with a free personalized demo. Click here to schedule. 

Sources

¹ Inspection Selection System (ISS) for Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) 

² Safety Measurement System (SMS) Methodology: Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) Prioritization Status Category

³ Aggregate Verizon Connect customer data

⁴ FMSCA Performance Profiles