Key Takeaways
- Federal regulators have reviewed thousands of commercial truck crashes to determine whether drivers could have prevented them.
- Of more than 80,000 completed reviews since 2020, approximately 96% resulted in a not-preventable finding.
- The program covers specific categories of crashes submitted for review, not all commercial truck accidents nationwide.
- A federal preventability finding doesn’t determine legal fault or whether an injured person can recover compensation.
Serious commercial truck accidents may become part of a trucking company's federal safety history, regardless of who caused the crash. Those records don't necessarily establish whether the truck driver could have prevented it.
A recent analysis from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center examines a federal program that allows trucking companies and drivers to request reviews of crashes they believe weren’t preventable.
Since the program began in 2020, federal regulators have received more than 115,000 review requests. The vast majority of completed reviews have found that the crashes were not preventable.
The results help regulators evaluate trucking company safety records. However, a federal determination that a crash wasn’t preventable doesn't mean the truck driver or trucking company bears no legal responsibility.
Why FMCSA Reviews Commercial Truck Crashes
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses crash reports, roadside inspections, and other safety information to identify trucking companies that may need additional oversight.
A problem with relying on crash records alone is that they don't always show whether a commercial driver contributed to an accident.
A truck stopped at a red light might be struck from behind. Another driver might cross the centerline and hit an oncoming tractor-trailer. Both crashes could appear in a trucking company's federal safety history even if the commercial driver did nothing wrong.
FMCSA's Crash Preventability Determination Program allows carriers and drivers to submit evidence showing that certain crashes couldn’t reasonably have been prevented.
The agency reviews that evidence to help determine which crashes should count toward a carrier's Crash Indicator measure, one factor used to identify companies for safety interventions.
What the Latest Federal Truck Crash Reviews Show
According to FMCSA statistics updated September 25, 2026, the agency had received 115,150 requests from 17,744 trucking companies since the program began.
Of the 80,729 completed determinations:
- 77,379 crashes were classified as not preventable.
- 1,335 were classified as preventable.
- 2,015 were classified as undecided.
That means nearly 96% of completed reviews resulted in a not-preventable finding.
The figure needs context. FMCSA doesn't review every commercial truck crash through this program. It considers certain categories of incidents submitted by carriers and drivers, often because they believe the evidence supports a not-preventable finding.
The results therefore don't mean that truck drivers were blameless in 96% of crashes nationwide.
Which Truck Accidents Can Be Reviewed?
FMCSA expanded the program in December 2024, increasing the number of eligible crash categories from 16 to 21.
Examples include accidents involving wrong-way drivers, vehicles striking commercial trucks from behind, and motorists failing to obey traffic signals or signs. Certain crashes captured on video may also qualify.
Carriers and drivers generally submit a police accident report along with supporting evidence through FMCSA's DataQs system. Photographs, witness statements, and dashcam footage may help establish what happened.
After reviewing the available information, FMCSA classifies an eligible crash as preventable, not preventable, or undecided.
A not-preventable crash remains in the carrier's public safety record but is excluded from the calculation of its Crash Indicator measure. The finding does not erase the accident or automatically change the company's overall safety rating.
Does a Not-Preventable Finding Mean the Truck Driver Wasn't at Fault?
Not necessarily. FMCSA makes clear that its preventability determinations don’t establish legal fault, negligence, or liability. The program was created to help federal regulators evaluate trucking company safety, not decide who should pay damages after an accident. Under 49 U.S.C. § 504(f), FMCSA's preventability determinations can’t be admitted into evidence or used in civil lawsuits seeking damages.
Truck accident attorney Ashley Spires of Childers, Schlueter & Smith says the distinction is important because a federal safety review and a civil lawsuit investigation serve different purposes.
"A finding that a truck crash wasn't preventable may be useful to federal regulators, but it doesn't tell us everything we need to know about what happened. When we're helping a client after a serious truck accident, we look at the evidence ourselves, including the driver's actions, the condition of the truck, and the events leading up to the crash. A federal designation doesn't replace that.”
The same distinction applies when FMCSA determines that a crash was preventable. That finding alone doesn't establish that a trucking company is legally liable for someone's injuries.
Evidence That Can Help Establish Fault in a Truck Accident
Federal crash records can provide background about a trucking company's safety history, but they may not tell the full story of an individual accident.
Attorneys investigating commercial truck accidents may examine police reports, witness statements, dashcam footage, electronic logging device data, maintenance records, and information stored by the truck's onboard systems to help establish what happened.
For example, after a rear-end truck accident, investigators will try to determine if the commercial driver was following too closely, distracted, speeding, or unable to stop because of a mechanical problem.
Video recorded by another motorist may also help resolve conflicting accounts of how the crash occurred.
An investigation into a truck accident claim may also uncover evidence that wasn't submitted or considered during the federal preventability review.
What Federal Truck Crash Findings Mean for Injured Motorists
FMCSA's review program helps regulators distinguish crashes that may indicate unsafe trucking practices from those commercial drivers could not reasonably have prevented.
That distinction can influence how the agency evaluates a trucking company's safety performance. It doesn't resolve questions about fault or compensation after a serious accident.
Someone injured in a commercial truck crash may still have grounds to pursue a personal injury claim even when FMCSA has classified the accident as not preventable. Whether a claim succeeds depends on the circumstances, applicable law, and available evidence.
As we've explored in our coverage of trucking accidents, determining what caused a serious truck accident requires examining the evidence, not simply relying on how the crash was classified in a federal database.
