FMCSA Proposes Expanding Crash Determination Program

Federal regulators are expanding efforts to keep unpreventable crash data from skewing safety statistics. 

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing to expand its Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP), which distinguishes preventable collisions from non-preventable ones. This is done to ensure that unpreventable wrecks don’t adversely impact suppliers’ ratings in FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System. 

According to an April 13 Federal Register posting, FMCSA will add four new crash types to the existing 16 in the CPDP. 

The new types would be: 

  1. A commercial motor vehicle (CMV) is hit by a motorist traveling in the same direction 

  1. A CMV is struck by a motorist coming out of a private driveway or parking lot 

  1. A CMV is struck by a motorist who lost control of their vehicle. 

  1. Any other type of CMV-involved crash where a video shows the sequence of events 

Between May 1, 2020, and December 30, 2022, over 39,000 reports were sent to the program, according to the notice, with around 72.5 percent being covered under the then-16 crash types. About 96 percent of those crashes were determined to be unpreventable.