Millions of commercial trucks travel U.S. highways every day, carrying everything from groceries and construction materials to fuel and consumer goods. Roadside inspections are one tool used to make sure those trucks, and the people driving them, meet federal safety requirements. A new CBS News investigation found that those inspections have not kept pace with the amount of truck traffic on American roads.
After analyzing millions of federal records, CBS News found that roadside inspections relative to miles driven by commercial trucks have fallen about 20% since 2016. The investigation also identified thousands of trucking companies with federal authority to operate that had no roadside inspection on record.
That doesn't necessarily mean those carriers were operating unsafely. But it raises questions about how effectively the current inspection system can identify dangerous vehicles, unqualified drivers, and companies with safety problems before a serious truck crash occurs.
What Did the CBS Truck Inspection Investigation Find?
The CBS investigation began with a devastating December 2025 crash on the New Jersey Turnpike. A commercial truck struck an SUV stopped on the shoulder, killing two parents and their daughter. Another daughter survived.
According to CBS, none of the trucking company's trucks or drivers had undergone a roadside inspection in the decade before the fatal crash.
The news organization found that the case was far from unique.
Since 2019, more than 2,000 people have died in crashes involving trucking companies that had federal authority to operate but no roadside inspection on record before the collision, according to the CBS analysis. Since 2024 alone, CBS identified 621 deaths in 543 such crashes.
Those figures don't establish that a lack of inspections caused the crashes. They do, however, highlight a potential gap in a system intended to identify safety problems before crashes occur.
Why Are Roadside Truck Inspections Important?
Commercial truck inspections can examine both the driver and the vehicle. Depending on the inspection type, officials may check brakes, tires, lights, and other equipment. They may also examine a driver's commercial license, medical qualifications, hours-of-service (HOS) records, and other requirements.
When inspectors identify a serious safety violation, they may prevent a driver or vehicle from operating until the problem is addressed.
Inspection results also become part of the federal safety information collected about motor carriers. A trucking company's safety record can help reveal patterns involving vehicle maintenance, unsafe driving, driver qualifications, hours-of-service compliance, and other potential safety concerns.
"Roadside inspections aren't just paperwork. They can identify problems with brakes, tires, driver qualifications, and other issues before they contribute to a serious crash," said Brandon Smith, a trucking accident attorney with Childers, Schlueter & Smith. "When fewer trucks are being inspected, the concern is that some of those problems may remain undiscovered."
No Inspection History Doesn't Necessarily Mean a Clean Safety Record
One key distinction the CBS investigation raises is what federal safety records can and can’t tell the public.
A trucking company with no recorded violations might appear to have a clean history, but if the carrier has rarely or never been inspected, little information may be available to draw conclusions.
That's different from a company whose trucks and drivers have undergone roadside inspections without serious violations being identified.
A trucking company’s safety history can reveal failed inspections, maintenance problems, hours-of-service violations, unsafe driving citations, and other warning signs. Inspection records are one source of information that regulators and investigators can use to identify those patterns.
However, limited inspection activity can make those patterns harder to identify in federal data.
"After a serious truck crash, we look closely at the carrier's history, including prior inspections and violations," Smith said. "But no violations and no inspections are two very different things. If a company hasn't been inspected, the absence of violations doesn't necessarily tell us its trucks and drivers were operating safely. It may simply mean there isn't much enforcement data to review."
Trucking Companies Have Safety Responsibilites Beyond Roadside Inspections
Roadside inspections are only one part of the commercial trucking safety system. Trucking companies must inspect, repair, and maintain the vehicles they operate. They also have responsibilities related to the drivers they employ, including making sure drivers are properly qualified and comply with hours-of-service and other federal safety requirements.
In other words, a trucking company's safety obligations don't begin when a state or federal officer pulls one of its trucks into an inspection station.
"A trucking company can't rely on the fact that a government inspector hasn't stopped one of its trucks," Smith said. "Carriers have their own responsibility to make sure their vehicles are properly maintained, and their drivers are qualified before those trucks ever enter the highway."
The stakes are particularly high when large commercial vehicles are involved. Tractor-trailers have large blind spots, require considerably more distance to stop, and can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds when fully loaded. Those differences are among the reasons drivers need to use extra caution when sharing the road with commercial trucks.
What Happens When a Truck With Little Inspection History Crashes?
After a serious commercial truck accident, the roadside inspection record is only one part of the investigation. Attorneys and crash investigators may examine maintenance and repair records, driver qualification files, electronic logging devices, dispatch communications, onboard vehicle data, and company policies. They may also look at hiring, training, and supervision practices and determine whether other companies contributed to putting the carrier on the road.
That broader investigation becomes especially important when there isn't an extensive roadside inspection history to examine.
Other evidence can also fill gaps in determining what happened immediately before a crash. For example, another driver’s dashcam footage may document vehicle movements, traffic conditions, or other details not captured in company records.
Inspection histories can also matter beyond the trucking company itself. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed a negligent-selection lawsuit against a freight broker to proceed, drawing renewed attention to what companies know about the carriers they hire and what safety information was available before a crash.
Truck Safety Depends on More Than One Line of Defense
The CBS investigation doesn't establish that more roadside inspections would have prevented each fatal crash it identified. Nor does a lack of inspection history mean that a particular trucking company is unsafe.
But roadside inspections provide regulators with opportunities to identify problems before they result in crashes. They also create records that can help regulators, companies, and the public understand how a carrier is operating. Without those records, less information may be available about potential problems until something goes wrong.
For motorists and families affected by serious commercial truck crashes, that makes a thorough investigation especially important. Understanding what happens after a trucking accident can help families learn more about federal safety regulations, trucking company records, crash evidence, and the issues that may arise when determining responsibility.
