Key points
- Every motor carrier subject to the federal safety rules must keep an accident register (49 CFR §390.15).
- It must include every crash that meets the federal definition of an "accident": a death, an injury treated away from the scene, or a vehicle towed away with disabling damage.
- Records must be kept for 3 years after the date of each accident.
Which crashes go in the register
Only crashes that meet the definition of "accident" in 49 CFR §390.5 must be recorded. In short, an occurrence involving a commercial motor vehicle on a highway that results in:
- a fatality;
- bodily injury to a person who, as a result, immediately receives medical treatment away from the scene; or
- one or more vehicles incurring disabling damage that requires them to be towed from the scene.
Read more in what counts as a DOT-recordable accident.
What each entry must include
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Date of the accident | |
| City or town (or the nearest one) and state | |
| Driver's name | |
| Number of injuries | |
| Number of fatalities | |
| Whether hazardous materials were released | Other than fuel spilled from the vehicle's own fuel tanks |
The carrier must also keep copies of all accident reports required by states or other government bodies, and of any reports its insurers require.
How long to keep it and who can see it
- Retention: 3 years after the date of each accident.
- Access: the carrier must make the register available to FMCSA and other authorized federal, state and local officials on request, typically during compliance reviews and investigations.
- Format: paper or electronic, as long as it contains the required information.
Good practice for carriers
- Give every driver an accident kit with a company report form, a camera checklist and witness cards.
- Record every crash internally, then decide whether it meets the §390.5 definition. Don't wait to find out whether the insurer pays.
- Decide straight away whether post-accident testing is required. The 8-hour and 32-hour limits run from the time of the crash.
- Preserve ELD data, dashcam video and maintenance records whenever a claim is possible. Logs only have to be kept 6 months by default.
- Consider asking FMCSA to review whether an eligible crash was preventable through the Crash Preventability Determination Program.
Why the register matters in a claim
A carrier's accident history can be relevant to claims that it knew, or should have known, about unsafe drivers or practices. Registers, together with the public crash data in our trucking company safety lookup, show a carrier's crash pattern over time.