How the Unsafe Driving BASIC scores your violations
Unsafe driving violations are written in plain view of an officer, and FMCSA weighs each one by its link to crashes. Here is which violations count, how the math works, and what brings the number down.
Written by Rigo Diaz
The Unsafe Driving BASIC in numbers
The Unsafe Driving BASIC scores your company, not your drivers, on roadside violations such as speeding, texting, hand-held phone use, reckless driving, and following too closely. Each violation carries a severity weight from 1 to 10, counts up to three times as much while it is recent, and drops out after 24 months.
I spent more than six years in risk management before I founded Simplex, and I have led it for more than 25 years since. Of the seven categories FMCSA scores, Unsafe Driving is the one I would look at first.
It is built entirely from decisions made behind the wheel and in dispatch, and it is one of the three categories FMCSA ties most strongly to crash risk. That makes it a real risk to your operation, and also the category you can steer most directly.
The full briefing, read aloud
8 chapters. Select one to jump to it.
Generated with AI text-to-speech from this article's key insights, in order, rather than reading it word for word. Chapter times come from a transcript of the audio. The article itself was written and reviewed by Rigo Diaz.
Key takeaways
It scores the carrier, not the driver
Violations count against the USDOT number the driver was operating under. FMCSA issues no CSA scores for individual drivers.
A warning counts like a ticket
A violation written on the roadside inspection report goes into SMS whether or not the officer also issues a citation.
Four behaviors carry the top weight of 10
Texting, hand-held phone use, reckless driving, and speeding 15 mph or more over the limit. Speeding 6 to 10 mph over is a 4.
Recent violations count triple
Time weights of 3, 2, and 1 apply by age, and nothing older than 24 months is used.
65% is the line for most carriers
It is 60% for hazmat and 50% for passenger carriers. At or above it, FMCSA may prioritize you for warning letters or investigations.
Twelve clean months take you out of the ranking
If every Unsafe Driving violation on your record is more than 12 months old, SMS stops assigning you a percentile in this BASIC.
In this articleContents
What is the Unsafe Driving BASIC?
The Unsafe Driving BASIC is the category of FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS) that scores how your drivers operate on the road: speeding, reckless driving, improper lane changes, texting, phone use, and seat belts. Its violations come from roadside inspections, mostly under 49 CFR Part 392.
It is one of seven BASICs. FMCSA's analysis ties Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, and Hours-of-Service Compliance most strongly to crash risk, so those three have the lowest intervention thresholds. For all seven categories, see our guide to the 7 BASICs.Does a warning count the same as a ticket?
Yes. SMS uses violations recorded on a roadside inspection report whether the officer writes a citation, gives a verbal warning, or does neither. A state ticket issued without an inspection report does not go into SMS.Why one violation weighs more on a small fleet
Most driver-related BASICs divide your weighted violations by your number of inspections. Unsafe Driving divides by carrier size instead: your average power units, adjusted by a utilization factor for miles driven per truck. FMCSA does this because these violations are usually what prompts the inspection in the first place. The effect is simple. With the same utilization factor, one violation weighs ten times more on a 1-truck carrier than on a 10-truck carrier.Which violations fall under the Unsafe Driving BASIC?
FMCSA's SMS Appendix A (version 3.21, May 2026) lists 97 roadside violation codes in the Unsafe Driving BASIC, grouped by crash risk. Every code in a group carries the same severity weight.
| Violation group | Examples | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Texting and phone use | Texting, or using a hand-held mobile phone, while driving | 10 |
| Reckless driving | Reckless driving under state or local law | 10 |
| Speeding, highest band | 15 mph or more over the limit, or speeding in a work zone | 10 |
| Speeding, 11 to 14 mph over | Speeding 11 to 14 mph over the limit | 7 |
| Seat belt | Driver, or other occupants of a truck, not belted | 7 |
| Dangerous driving | Following too closely, improper lane change, ignoring a traffic control device, inattentive driving, failure to yield | 5 |
| Speeding related | Scheduling a run that requires speeding; radar detector | 5 |
| Speeding, 6 to 10 mph over | Speeding 6 to 10 mph over the limit | 4 |
| Miscellaneous | Lane or truck route restriction, failing to dim headlamps | 3 |
| Other driver violations | Unlawful parking, no hazard flashers, unauthorized passenger | 1 |
What is not in the Unsafe Driving BASIC?
Three violations often filed under unsafe driving are scored somewhere else, or not at all:- Driving while ill or fatigued counts in Hours-of-Service Compliance.
- Alcohol and drug violations count in Controlled Substances/Alcohol.
- Speeding 1 to 5 mph over is not used, because the speedometer rule only requires accuracy within 5 mph.
What does the severity weighting process do?
The severity weighting process ranks each violation by its link to crashes, relative to the other violations in the same BASIC. A 10 is the highest crash risk in Unsafe Driving and a 1 the lowest, and weights from different BASICs cannot be compared or added.
SMS then applies three more rules before anything becomes a score:- Time weight. A violation counts 3 times in its first 6 months, 2 times from 6 to 12 months, and once from 12 to 24 months. After that it is no longer used.
- A cap of 30. The severity weights from one inspection in one BASIC max out at 30, before the time weight is applied.
- One count per code. The same violation cited more than once on an inspection counts once, and Unsafe Driving violations carry no extra out-of-service weight.
A worked example
A driver is written up for speeding 15 mph over (10), a hand-held phone (10), following too closely (5), and no seat belt (7). That is 32, capped at 30. The inspection adds 90 to your total in its first six months, 60 from month 7 to 12, and 30 in its second year.How is the Unsafe Driving BASIC score calculated?
Your measure is that weighted total divided by your average power units times the utilization factor. SMS compares your measure with carriers in the same segment (mostly combination or mostly straight trucks) and with a similar number of inspections, then converts it to a percentile from 0 to 100. Higher is worse. Two guardrails apply. You get no percentile until you have at least three inspections with an Unsafe Driving violation, and you drop out of the ranking once all of those violations are more than 12 months old.What happens when your Unsafe Driving score is high?
When your percentile reaches the intervention threshold, SMS flags the BASIC with an alert, and FMCSA may prioritize you for interventions such as warning letters and investigations. Acute and critical violations found in an investigation in the past 12 months can flag the BASIC too.
| Carrier type | Threshold |
|---|---|
| General (most property carriers) | 65th percentile |
| Hazardous materials | 60th percentile |
| Passenger | 50th percentile |
Our guide to recovering from a DOT violation walks through warning letters, investigations, and a Notice of Claim. How underwriters read the same record is covered in how CSA scores affect truck insurance.
The driver's CDL is on the line too
When they end in a conviction, many of these violations are also serious traffic violations under 49 CFR 383.51: speeding 15 mph or more over, reckless driving, improper lane changes, following too closely, texting, and hand-held phone use. A CDL holder convicted twice within three years while driving a CMV is disqualified for 60 days, and three times for 120 days.Do drivers have their own CSA scores?
No. SMS scores carriers by USDOT number, and a violation counts against the carrier the driver was operating for. FMCSA does run a Driver Safety Measurement System, but it generates no scores, and its results are available only to enforcement during investigations.
What follows a driver is the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) record: 5 years of crashes and 3 years of roadside inspections. Drivers can request their own report, and carriers use it to screen new hires, which is why it belongs in your driver hiring process.How to lower your Unsafe Driving BASIC score
There is no reset button, but the math rewards steady improvement. Each step works on one part of it.
Step 1: Read your SMS profile every month
SMS updates once a month, and the next update is scheduled for the week of October 5, 2026. Log in to see your percentile and the inspections behind it.Step 2: Find the drivers and violation groups behind it
Sort the last 24 months of violations by driver and by group, and let the weights set your priorities: one texting violation weighs twice as much as following too closely. SimplexHub links each inspection and violation to the driver and equipment involved.Step 3: Put phones, speed, and seat belts in writing
Several of these rules bind the carrier, not only the driver. A motor carrier may not allow or require texting or hand-held phone use while driving (49 CFR 392.80 and 392.82), or schedule a run that can only be made by speeding (392.6). Build realistic schedules, and write down your phone, speed, following-distance, and seat belt rules.Step 4: Challenge wrong data through DataQs
If a violation is wrong, or the driver's citation was dismissed in court, file a Request for Data Review in DataQs. A dismissal or not-guilty finding removes the violation, and a conviction on a different charge drops it to a weight of 1. Both require certified court documents. For requests submitted on or after September 18, 2026, the state must decide within 21 days, and you can ask for a reconsideration (21 days) and a final review (45 days). The burden of proof rests entirely with you.Step 5: Let clean months do the work
Every violation loses a third of its weight at 6 months and two-thirds at 12 months. Go 12 months without a new Unsafe Driving violation and you drop out of the percentile ranking, even though older violations stay in your SMS data until they are 24 months old.
How Simplex helps you control your Unsafe Driving BASIC
The number moves when behavior and data both get attention. We work on each.
A plan for a high CSA score
Our CSA program team monitors driver performance and designs and implements the policies and training behind a better score.
Every violation tied to a driver
SimplexHub and Simplex2Go show your BASIC scores and 24 months of inspections and violations linked to drivers and equipment, with training recommendations.
Monitoring that keeps checking
Our compliance programs include CSA monitoring, mock audits, HOS management, and driver qualification file management.
Frequently asked questions
Which violations fall under the Unsafe Driving BASIC?+
How many CSA points is a warning?+
Do truck drivers have their own CSA scores?+
How long does an unsafe driving violation affect my CSA score?+
What is the Unsafe Driving BASIC intervention threshold?+
Can a dismissed ticket be removed from my CSA score?+
Where this information comes from
The rules and weights below come from FMCSA's Safety Measurement System documents, federal regulation, and the Federal Register, checked on September 24, 2026. FMCSA revises the weights with each methodology version, so confirm against the current one.
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1
FMCSA — SMS Methodology, version 3.21 (PDF)
The Unsafe Driving definition, time weights, the 30-point cap, size normalization, data sufficiency, and thresholds.
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2
FMCSA — SMS Appendix A violation list (XLSX)
Every Unsafe Driving violation code with its group and severity weight.
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3
FMCSA — The Safety Measurement System
The two-year data window, monthly updates, and warnings counted like citations.
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4
eCFR — 49 CFR 383.51
Serious traffic violations and the 60- and 120-day CDL disqualifications.
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5
eCFR — 49 CFR 392.82
The hand-held phone ban for drivers and for carriers that allow or require it.
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6
FMCSA — Driver SMS Methodology (PDF)
No driver scores; results available only to enforcement.
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7
FMCSA — SMS Prioritization Preview
The approved SMS changes, not yet in effect, and the instruction to keep using the current SMS.
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8
Federal Register — Revisions to DataQs Requirements (91 FR 20561)
The three-stage DataQs review, its deadlines, and the burden of proof.
Written by
Rigo Diaz
Founder & CEO, Simplex Group
Founder and CEO of Simplex Group, with more than 25 years leading the company and helping trucking entrepreneurs navigate compliance, insurance, and the day-to-day demands of running a carrier. Before founding Simplex, he spent more than six years in risk management, experience that continues to shape how he approaches insurance, compliance, and carrier risk today.
Published · Updated
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Unsafe driving is the part of your safety record you can steer
Every point in this BASIC starts with a decision behind the wheel or in dispatch. Change the habits and the schedules, and the time weights start working for you within six months.
If you want a second look at your Unsafe Driving BASIC and the drivers behind it, talk to our team.