Crash Indicator Red Flagged for DOT Compliance Review

I was recently involved in an investigation brought on by 7 accidents that resulted in a Compliance Review. 2 of these accidents were at fault by the Carriers' drivers while the other 5 were rear-end collisions. The Carrier had other violations to clean up, but it was the accidents that held the company to a Conditional Status and almost brought them to Unsatisfactory. If you've ever visited the Data Q within the FMCSA website, you know that there's a "chance" of removing certain violations if you have a reasonable explanation. However, Non-Preventable accidents are not review-able if you've ever tried. As a matter of fact, I've been told by DOT Investigators that this is simply not possible to remove. Due to the fact that DOT would have continued to come back because of these accidents being red flagged, we were able to get these accidents reviewed by the Field Office on a federal level and the status restored to Satisfactory. Now, I'm not saying that all accidents can be removed from scores, but I just wanted to post that sometimes there are issues that seem impossible to fix, but with enough determination, you can find out just how impossible it may be. Does anyone else have a situation they've made the best of with DOT?

 

Preventable accidents aren't exactly better to have on your record, but you're right that Non-Preventable accidents are similar to ticket warnings in that they aren't subject to challenge. 3 Crashes within about a year, at fault or not, show as Critical and usually act like a beacon for DOT towards a Carrier, depending on their priorities. If you do some research, you'll find that its been proposed that Non-Preventable accidents be subject for review within the Data Q. I haven't seen this work yet though. After sending in an inquiry for review, an automated message saying that Non-Preventable accidents are only review-able during a Compliance Review. Unfortunately, DOT Officers/Investigators don't have the authority to remove the accidents from records, only review them, even if they are certain that a "Not at Fault" rear-ending took place.