Crash Indicator BASIC

By Korey Sharp-Paar · Reviewed by the Fast Trucking Compliance team

Definition

Crash Indicator is the CSA BASIC that measures a carrier's history of state-reportable crashes per power unit over the prior 24 months. Unlike most BASICs, Crash Indicator is non-public - only carriers can view their own percentile through the SMS portal. Severity weights factor in injury, fatality, and tow-away outcomes. FMCSA does not currently use Crash Indicator alone to trigger interventions because of fault-determination concerns, but the 2024-2025 SMS methodology updates re-introduce a fault-weighted version called the "preventability program" that adjusts for non-preventable crashes documented through DataQ.

Authoritative source

FMCSA CSA program

CSA Scores & OOS Rate

How FMCSA computes BASIC scores and what the out-of-service rate signals to brokers.

Related terms

CSA(Compliance, Safety, Accountability)
BASIC Scores(Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories)
DataQ Challenge(Request for Data Review (RDR))

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