Last Updated July 2, 2025
Truck drivers and carriers shouldn’t underestimate the importance of CSA scores. Standing for “compliance, safety, and accountability,” CSA safety scores are a key tool used by FMCSA to identify which carriers and drivers pose a high risk to others on the road.
Knowing where to find CSA scores, your CSA score meaning, and which factors are considered in calculating your CSA score can all have a significant impact on your driving career. By remaining compliant and taking steps that will improve your CSA score over time, you can keep your trucking business running smoothly.
What Is a CSA Score?
A CSA safety score in trucking is evaluates a driver or carrier’s compliance, safety, and accountability. Regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), these scores focus on key safety categories such as vehicle maintenance, unsafe driving, and accident statistics.
If a driver gets a violation in one of these categories, they (and their carrier) accrue CSA points. A higher CSA score indicates more violations, which can make it harder for drivers to get hired. Carriers with high CSA scores are more likely to be investigated by FMCSA.
Why Are CSA Scores Important?
FMCSA CSA scores are designed to increase the safety of every driver. Because truckers drive large vehicles and put so many miles on the road, ensuring that drivers and carriers are operating safely can go a long way in reducing accidents (as well as the injuries and fatalities that can go along with them).
Essentially, FMCSA uses CSA scores to determine if a driver and their trucking company is operating safely. Drivers with frequent CSA violations may lose safety clearances or even have their CDL suspended. Carriers with high CSA scores may be subjected to extra roadside inspections and audits. They may even be placed out of service or have their authority revoked in an effort to keep other drivers safe.
How Are CSA Scores Calculated?
FMCSA maintains a CSA score chart that assigns points based on the severity of a violation. There are seven CSA categories, with each category scored on a percentile from 0 to 100. Within each category, points typically range from 4 to 5 for less severe violations (such as improper lane changes or following too close) to 10 points for the most severe violations (such as texting while operating a CMV or speeding at 15 miles per hour over the speed limit).
The CSA score calculation is also time-based. For carriers, when violations are less than six months old, their score is tripled (i.e., 10 x 3 = 30). Violations that are seven to 12 months old are doubled, while violations over a year old are weighted at the base point value.
After two years for carriers and three years for drivers, old violations are dropped from the CSA score entirely.
The 7 CSA Score BASICs
The seven BASICs, which stands for behavior analysis and safety improvement categories, of CSA scores highlight the key categories where drivers and carriers can accrue points based on their violations.
The CSA BASICs include the following categories:
Unsafe Driving
This category covers violations for unsafe or careless driving, including using a cell phone while driving, speeding, failure to use a seat belt, improper lane changes, and so on.
Vehicle Maintenance
This CSA category includes any truck maintenance violations that might come up during a roadside inspection, from brakes being out of service to operating an out-of-service vehicle, having chafed/kinked brake housing, or having inoperative turn signals or brake lights.
Hours of Service
This includes violations of hours-of-service requirements, such as violating the eleven-hour rule or driving while sick.
Driver Fitness
Violations relate to driver licensing and credentials, such as not having a valid CDL, driving while disqualified, or not having a valid medical certificate.
Drugs and Alcohol
Drug and alcohol violations are penalized harshly, with most getting the maximum of 10 CSA points.
Hazmat
Drivers and carriers that carry hazardous materials must follow all additional regulations to avoid CSA points, such as securing hazmat packages and affixing placards properly.
Crash
Any recordable accidents will be added to your CSA record. The DOT considers a crash recordable when vehicles are towed from the scene or an injury or fatality occurs. Points can be removed if the driver or carrier can prove a crash was non-preventable.
What Is a Good CSA Score?
The CSA score scale is reported as a percentage, ranging from 0 to 100. A good CSA score means getting as close to zero as possible in each BASIC category. At a minimum, carriers and drivers should aim to maintain a CSA score below 50 in each BASIC category.
As your CSA score increases, you are more likely to be subjected to an investigation by FMCSA. FMCSA has intervention thresholds for unsafe driving, crashes, and hours of service at 65%. For the other categories, intervention thresholds start at 80%. Going above the intervention thresholds in two or more categories for over two months will typically be enough for your business to be considered a high-risk carrier, which will prompt an investigation.
How to Check Your CSA Score
Finding a CSA score report may seem intimidating, but it’s actually quite straightforward. To conduct a CSA score search, log in to the FMCSA portal with your login.gov account. Type in your DOT number and use the PIN associated with your account to do a search of the FMCSA safety measurement system.
With this system, you don’t need to pay any fees to access scoring information. Everything you need to see your current standing is right at your fingertips.
While drivers don’t have individual CSA scores, their violations will still be made available via the FMCSA’s pre-employment screening program (PSP) report, which acts as the equivalent of a driver CSA score lookup.
Drivers can order their own report for free, while carriers can order reports for $10. The inspection and crash history data in these reports can provide a general idea of the level of risk a driver carries, even though there is no CSA score on the document.
Implications of CSA Scores on Drivers and Trucking Companies
Taking steps to maintain a good CSA score should be a top priority for drivers and trucking companies alike. Here are some of the reasons why you should try to maintain a low CSA score:
• High CSA scores make you more likely to be subjected to roadside inspections and even full-scale investigations.
• High scores will often result in higher insurance premiums and deductibles for both large fleet carriers and owner-operators.
• A poor CSA score for carriers can make it hard for a trucking company to attract and retain clients.
• A poor CSA score for carriers can also make a trucking company less attractive as an employer for quality drivers.
• Severe repeat violations could result in the loss of trucking operating authority.
• Businesses can be fined by FMCSA for severe violations.
• Drivers with high scores may find it harder to get employment.
• Drivers with repeat violations may be terminated by their current employer.
How to Improve Your CSA Score
If you’re wondering how to improve a CSA score, there are unfortunately few things you can do to directly impact your score. Most steps to improve CSA scores are preventative, rather than reactive. However, with the right processes in place, carriers and drivers can avoid accumulating too many points and improve their driving record.
1. Let Time Pass to Allow Violations to Fall Off Your Report
When it comes to existing violations, the only thing you’ll typically be able to do is let time pass. Remember, the older a violation is, the less heavily it is weighted toward your CSA score. After two years for carriers and three years for drivers, it falls off the reporting entirely.
Of course, letting time pass will only be effective if you are proactively taking steps to reduce the risk of further violations.
2. Focus on Maximizing Driver Safety
Carriers should prioritize hiring drivers with a safe driving history. Looking at individual driving records and the pre-employment screening program report can help employers identify potential red flags, such as a history of repeated hours of service violations. Hiring drivers with a strong safety record may be one of the most important things you can do to avoid getting CSA points.
Owner-operators and carriers can also benefit from participation in driver safety programs. Reminders of basic safety practices can encourage drivers to learn or improve skills that reduce the risk of accidents and other violations. Even reminders to avoid common violations like speeding or following too closely can go a long way.
3. Prioritize Fleet Maintenance
Aside from driver behavior, vehicle maintenance is one of the main areas where owner-operators and carriers can be proactive in reducing their risk of getting CSA points. Conducting pre-trip and post-trip inspections to check for common violations like brakes, lights, and tires will help reduce the risk and stress associated with roadside inspections.
Closely following vehicle maintenance guidelines with a refined maintenance program will also reduce the likelihood of violations during future roadside inspections.
4. Question Accident Preventability and Inaccurate Violations
Your CSA score will be affected if you are involved in an accident where there is an injury or fatality, or when a vehicle needs to be towed from the scene. Points are added even when you are not at fault.
However, drivers can get an accident removed from their record if they question and disprove its preventability. If you can prove that the accident was not preventable, the crash (and its points) may be removed from your CSA score.
This is typically limited to specific types of incidents, such as being struck by another vehicle when you were legally stopped or being hit by a wrong-way driver or someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
You can also challenge other violations that you believe are incorrect, as long as you do so within two years. Challenges can be submitted through the FMCSA DataQs portal.
In-Summary: CSA Scores
DOT CSA carrier scores can have a significant impact on your truck driving career. Knowing how to check a CSA score (or PSP report for individual drivers) is certainly important, as this can tell you if you’re at higher risk of an intervention by FMCSA or other disciplinary actions. The closer you can get your score to zero, the better.
Ultimately, however, what is most important is that you operate in a safe manner that reduces the risk of accumulating violations and CSA points in the first place. By focusing on safe and compliant driving behaviors, vehicle maintenance, and maintaining proper records and credentials, you can keep your CSA score where you need it to be.
Trucking CSA Score FAQs
Will a written warning affect your CSA score?
Inspection warnings do affect CSA scores depending on the circumstances. If the warning ticket accompanies a matching inspection report, it will affect your CSA score because it appears in the inspection report.
How often will basic CSA scores change?
CSA scores are updated each month. The scores include data from the past 24 months for carriers and 36 months for drivers, with more recent events having the biggest impact on the score.
How long will a violation stay on your CSA score?
How long do CSA scores last? A CSA score violation will typically stay on a driver’s record for 36 months and 24 months for a carrier. Time weighting means that older violations won’t affect your CSA score as much as newer violations.
What is a bad CSA score?
A bad CSA score range is considered to be any score of 50 or higher. Once a carrier’s score gets above 65% in Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, or HOS Compliance, they could be investigated by FMCSA. Even higher scores could get you labeled as a high-risk driver or carrier.
How many CSA points does it take to get your CDL suspended or removed?
CSA points are just one factor taken into consideration for CDL suspension or removal. For example, a driver could have their CDL suspended after two incidents that incur CSA points, particularly if they have a more severe violation.
Michael McCareins is the Content Marketing Associate at altLINE, where he is dedicated to creating and managing optimal content for readers. Following a brief career in media relations, Michael has discovered a passion for content marketing through developing unique, informative content to help audiences better understand ideas and topics such as invoice factoring and A/R financing.
