Full explanation
BASIC (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories) scores are the FMCSA's primary safety measurement system under the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program. Each carrier is scored on a 0-100 percentile basis across seven categories: Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials Compliance, and Crash Indicator. Higher percentiles indicate worse performance relative to peers. Carriers exceeding intervention thresholds (typically 65th percentile for most BASICs, 50th for HazMat) face increased audit likelihood and potential enforcement action. BASICs are calculated using inspection results, violation data, and crash records from the past 24 months, with more recent data weighted more heavily. Carriers must have a minimum number of inspections to receive a score in each category — smaller carriers may not have scores in all BASICs. Truck Graph incorporates BASIC-related data from 5.25 million inspections and 9 million violations to inform its composite risk scoring.
Source: FMCSA: Safety Measurement System
Frequently asked questions
What BASIC score is bad?
FMCSA intervention thresholds are: 65th percentile or above for most categories, 50th percentile for HazMat, and 65th percentile for Crash Indicator. Carriers above these thresholds face warning letters, targeted inspections, or compliance investigations.
How often are BASIC scores updated?
FMCSA updates BASIC scores monthly using a rolling 24-month window of inspection and crash data, with more recent events weighted more heavily through a time-decay algorithm.
Can a carrier improve its BASIC scores?
Yes. Since scores use a 24-month rolling window, older violations age out. Carriers can improve by maintaining clean inspections, fixing identified issues, and implementing safety management systems. Improvements typically take 6-12 months to reflect in scores.
Related terms
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