CSA BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories) are the seven categories that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses in its Safety Measurement System (SMS) to measure motor carrier safety performance. Roadside inspection violations, crash reports and investigation results are sorted into these categories, and carriers with enough data receive a percentile score in each one.
BASICs matter because FMCSA uses them to decide which carriers to contact with warning letters or investigations. Shippers, brokers, insurers and plaintiffs' attorneys also look at SMS data, so poor results in a BASIC can affect business and legal exposure as well as enforcement attention.
What Are the Seven CSA BASICs?
As of November 2026, SMS still uses these seven BASICs:
- Unsafe Driving: dangerous or careless operation, such as speeding, reckless driving, improper lane changes, inattention, and texting or hand-held phone use.
- Crash Indicator: history or patterns of high crash involvement, based on state-reported crashes that meet the DOT reportable threshold.
- Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance: operating while ill, fatigued or in violation of hours-of-service rules, including false or missing logs and ELD violations.
- Vehicle Maintenance: failure to properly maintain a vehicle or to correct defects, such as brake, light and tire violations and inspection report failures.
- Controlled Substances/Alcohol: operating while impaired by alcohol, illegal drugs or misuse of prescription or over-the-counter medications.
- Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance: unsafe handling of hazmat, such as leaking containers, improper packaging and placarding errors.
- Driver Fitness: operating with an invalid license or without a valid medical certificate, or by a driver who is otherwise unqualified.
FMCSA's Approved SMS Changes
FMCSA proposed a major redesign of SMS in February 2023 and approved the changes, with modifications, in November 2024. The approved changes would rename and reorganize the BASICs, move Controlled Substances/Alcohol violations into the Unsafe Driving category, split Vehicle Maintenance into Vehicle Maintenance and Vehicle Maintenance: Driver Observed, group similar violations together and simplify severity weights.
As of November 2026, the new methodology has not taken effect and no launch date has been announced. FMCSA has said it is updating SMS to incorporate the approved changes and has signaled further proposals for comment. Carriers can see how they would score under the new approach on FMCSA's Prioritization Preview, but enforcement still uses the seven BASICs. Check the FMCSA CSA website for the current status.
How BASIC Scores Work
- 24-month window: SMS uses inspections, violations and crashes from the previous 24 months, updated monthly.
- Severity weights: each violation has a severity weight from 1 to 10 based on its link to crash risk. Out-of-service violations receive additional weight.
- Time weights: recent events count more. Events in the last 6 months carry a time weight of 3, events 6 to 12 months old a weight of 2, and older events a weight of 1.
- Normalization: measures are divided by exposure, such as relevant inspections or power units and vehicle miles traveled, depending on the BASIC.
- Peer groups and percentiles: carriers are compared with others that have similar numbers of inspections or crashes. Percentiles run from 0 to 100, and a higher percentile means worse performance.
- Data sufficiency: a carrier needs a minimum number of inspections, violations or crashes before it receives a percentile in a BASIC.
Intervention Thresholds
When a carrier's percentile is at or above a threshold, FMCSA may prioritize it for intervention. For general property carriers, the thresholds are 65% for Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and HOS Compliance, and 80% for Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Driver Fitness and HM Compliance. Lower thresholds apply to passenger carriers and hazmat carriers in most BASICs.
Interventions range from warning letters to offsite or onsite investigations. A BASIC percentile is not a safety rating. Safety ratings come from compliance reviews under 49 CFR Part 385. Under the FAST Act, percentiles and alerts for property carriers are not shown to the public, although the underlying inspection and crash data remain visible. The CSA Safety Measurement System page covers the program in more detail.
How to Improve BASIC Scores Step by Step
- Review your SMS data monthly. Log in to the FMCSA Portal and check each BASIC, the violations driving it and any alerts.
- Challenge incorrect data. File a Request for Data Review in DataQs for inspections or crashes that are wrong or assigned to the wrong carrier.
- Find the root cause. Group violations by driver, vehicle, terminal and violation type to see what is driving the score.
- Fix vehicle issues. Strengthen pre-trip inspections, DVIR follow-up and preventive maintenance to reduce roadside defects.
- Coach drivers. Address speeding, logbook and inspection findings with targeted training and documented follow-up.
- Tighten driver qualification. Track license, medical certificate and MVR expiration dates so unqualified drivers are not dispatched.
- Use the crash preventability program. Submit eligible crashes for a not-preventable determination to remove them from the Crash Indicator calculation.
- Track progress. Remember that violations age out after 24 months, so steady clean inspections improve scores over time.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Checking SMS only after a warning letter arrives.
- Ignoring clean inspections. They lower BASIC measures, so drivers should hand over inspection reports.
- Not challenging crashes or violations that belong to another carrier.
- Assuming the approved SMS changes are already in effect.
- Treating a percentile as a safety rating or as the only measure of safety.
How SMS360 Helps
SMS360's Fleet Reports module helps fleets review inspection and crash records by driver, vehicle and location to see what is affecting BASIC results. DOT Compliance keeps reminders and compliance records in one place, and Actions Management assigns and tracks corrective actions such as driver coaching or repairs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many CSA BASICs are there?
There are seven BASICs in the SMS in use as of November 2026. FMCSA has approved a reorganization and renaming of the categories, but it has not been implemented yet.
How long do violations stay in my BASIC scores?
Inspections, violations and crashes count in SMS for 24 months, with older events weighted less. Inspection reports remain visible longer in some FMCSA systems, such as the Pre-Employment Screening Program.
Can the public see my BASIC percentiles?
For property carriers, percentiles and alerts are hidden from public view under the FAST Act, but carriers can see their own after logging in. Inspection and crash records themselves remain publicly available.
Does a high BASIC percentile mean my company is unsafe?
Not by itself. A high percentile flags a carrier for possible FMCSA attention, but only a compliance review can result in a satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory safety rating.
