What Does a Clean Inspection Do to Your CSA Score?

Commercial drivers and their employers play a big role in keeping America’s highways safe. The Compliance, Safety, and Accountability score is one tool the Department of Transport uses to help achieve that goal. 

This score evaluates a driver’s compliance with safety standards and significantly impacts a carrier’s reputation, insurance rates, and more. Understandably, meeting problems during your roadside inspection can tank this number, but what does a clean inspection do to your CSA score? 

Below, Federal Motor Carrier Authority Filings has the answer. The FMCSA compliance checklist is also useful in getting clean inspections to keep your CSA score as low as possible.

Understanding the Effects of Clean Inspection on CSA Scores Overall (BASIC’s 7 Categories)

A CSA score assigns a numerical value to a driver’s performance in Driver Fitness Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement, or BASIC. There are seven categories as follows:

Unsafe Driving

Violations include unsafe driving habits. Think about using a handheld phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt, speeding, or not signaling lane changes. 

Vehicle Maintenance

Failing to address issues like malfunctioning lights, tire problems, and brake wear can mean unwanted CSA points.

Hours of Service

Driving more than the permitted number of hours or driving while sick or too tired can result in a violation and points.

Driver Fitness

When the driver doesn’t have the proper documentation (license, medical card, etc.) or has expired documents, the inspector increases their CSA score.

Drugs and Alcohol

Any possession of drugs or alcohol is a violation of FMCSA’s strict standards.

Hazmat

Not adhering to hazmat regulations will add points to the CSA score. 

Crash

Any recorded accident or crash will raise a driver’s CSA score.

More About The CSA Inspection Points System

The clean inspection benefits for CSA are clear: No violations equals no points. Of course, that also means no negative impact on the driver or their employer.

Drivers can receive penalty points for violations during a roadside inspection or after a crash. Each violation has a point value based on its severity. It also depends on the frequency.

In the first year after the infraction, your points triple. They will go down every year until falling off the record (after three years). So, if you receive a five-point infraction in the first year, it will appear on your record as a 15-point addition to your CSA score, then 10 points in Year Two, five points in Year Three, and nothing the year after that.

It’s important to note here that the scores of every driver in the fleet will impact a carrier’s CSA score. Driver violations for carrier scores triple in the first six months, then double, and remain at face value for the remaining two years. 

How CSA Scores Impact Drivers and Carriers 

It’s intuitive that violations increase the figure, but what does a clean inspection do to your CSA score? A clean inspection won’t remove any existing points, but it also doesn’t add any. So, the clean inspection influence on safety scores helps your case because the inspector won’t have found any BASIC violations or awarded you penalty points. 

Consider the expected impact of a high CSA score after an excessive number of violations:

• Drivers have difficulty finding employment
• Carriers face restrictions (such as on the types of loads they can transport) 
• Increased DOT roadside inspections
• Extra audits
• More expensive insurance

The higher the CSA, the more drivers and carriers feel the pinch. If a clean inspection can ease the burden by not increasing the score even higher, that’s positive.

Improving CSA Score with Clean Inspections

So, how can drivers harness the clean inspection impact on CSA scores? Always assume that an inspection is imminent and drive accordingly! 

Follow all the rules of the road. Don’t drive while fatigued. Eliminate all distractions, including eating and using handheld devices. 

Carriers can also increase the likelihood of clean inspections as follows:

• Electronic logbooks. Eliminate violations related to inaccurate logs.
• Driver Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) software. Guide drivers through pre-and-post-trip inspections and catch problems early.
• Skills. Ensure in-depth training in transporting hazardous materials.
• Rules. Implement a zero-tolerance policy for drug and alcohol use.

These policies keep CSA scores as low as possible carrier-wide, which can support more profitable operations and safer roadways. Low CSA scores attract brokers and drivers. Who wouldn’t want to work with carriers that demonstrate a commitment to safety and avoid costly penalties and FMCSA sanctions?

Improve Your Compliance With Help From FMCA Filings 

What does a clean inspection do to your CSA score? It can keep you on the road and moving forward. It also prevents penalties, minimizes time spent in weight stations, and upholds driver and carrier reputations. 

How can you improve your CSA score and inspection results and file or access permits? FMCA Filings can save you time on getting together all the necessary paperwork for a roadside inspection, answer your questions with our Live Chat feature, and more!