FMCSA — Motor Carrier Safety
The motor carriers operating with the worst safety records, by the numbers
FMCSA lists 4,457,540 registered motor carriers, but 50.6% hold only an Inactive registration and only 1.2% carry any safety rating. Of the 759 carriers FMCSA rated Unsatisfactory — its worst — 744 are still active. Across 3,590,465 crash records there are 138,535 fatalities, and 18.7% of roadside inspections end in an out-of-service order. Aggregate counts only; no individual named.
Key findings
motor carriers are on the FMCSA census — but 50.6% hold only an Inactive registration. Just 49.4% (2,202,214) are registration-Active. The census records a status code (Active or Inactive), not a separate operating-authority "revoked" flag; an Inactive record covers authority that lapsed, was revoked, or ceased operating.
of all carriers carry any FMCSA safety rating at all (53,535 of 4,457,540). A rating is only assigned after a compliance review, so 4,404,005 carriers operate unrated. Of the rated, 77.6% are Satisfactory, 21% Conditional, and 1.4% Unsatisfactory.
FMCSA rated Unsatisfactory — its worst safety rating — are still registration-Active (of 759 Unsatisfactory carriers total, only 15 are inactive). An Unsatisfactory rating normally triggers an out-of-service order, which makes the active ones the clearest signal of risk in the public record.
fatalities and 2,121,852 injuries are recorded across 3,590,465 crash records. 3.3% of crashes involved a fatality and 40.4% an injury; 92.1% were severe enough to tow a vehicle away. These are administrative crash records spanning multiple years, not a single-year rate.
of the 3,102,000 roadside inspections end with at least one out-of-service order. The vehicle out-of-service rate (14.8%) runs roughly 3× the driver out-of-service rate (5.5%) — equipment defects pull more trucks off the road than driver violations do.
(84 Unsatisfactory carriers) leads the states for the most carriers at FMCSA's worst rating, ahead of KY (81) and IN (59) — a different ranking from the raw carrier-count leaders (CA, TX, FL).
At a glance
Operating status — how many carriers are actually active
The carrier census carries every entity that ever registered for a USDOT number and was not purged. Half hold only an Inactive registration — carriers that went out of business, let their registration lapse, or had their authority revoked. The census records a status code (Active / Inactive); it does not break out a separate “revoked” reason.
| Registration status | Carriers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inactive registration | 2,254,345 | 50.6% |
| Active registration | 2,202,214 | 49.4% |
| Other / unknown | 981 | 0% |
The safety-rating distribution — who is rated, and how
A safety rating is assigned only after an on-site compliance review, so the overwhelming majority of carriers — 4,404,005 of 4,457,540 (98.8%) — carry no rating at all. The table below covers the 53,535rated carriers: the “Still active” column counts how many keep an Active registration.
| FMCSA rating | Carriers | Still active | Share of rated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satisfactory (S) | 41,551 | 41,173 | 77.6% |
| Conditional (C) | 11,225 | 11,020 | 21% |
| Unsatisfactory (U) | 759 | 744 | 1.4% |
Satisfactory: controls meet the safety-fitness standard. Conditional: inadequate controls, with violations. Unsatisfactory: serious violations that normally trigger an out-of-service order. Shares are of the rated subset, not of all 4,457,540 carriers.
The carriers at the worst rating, still operating
An Unsatisfactory rating is FMCSA's worst, and normally results in an out-of-service order barring a carrier from operating. Yet 744 carriers with that rating still held an Active registration at the 2026-06-25 snapshot. Many of the ratings in the table below are decades old and were never revisited. This is the published record as-is; it is not a determination by Fonteumabout any carrier's current authority.
Crash record by severity
The FMCSA crash file logs every reportable crash involving a registered carrier. These are administrative records accumulated over many years, not a single-year rate. 3.3% of crashes involved a fatality and 40.4% an injury; the large majority were severe enough to tow a vehicle away.
| Crash measure | Count | Share of crashes |
|---|---|---|
| Total crash records | 3,590,465 | — |
| Crashes with a fatality | 117,113 | 3.3% |
| Crashes with an injury | 1,450,319 | 40.4% |
| Tow-away crashes | 3,305,201 | 92.1% |
| Total fatalities | 138,535 | — |
| Total injuries | 2,121,852 | — |
Out-of-service rates — driver vs vehicle
At a roadside inspection, a serious violation can place a driver or a vehicle out of service. Across 3,102,000 inspections, 18.7% produced at least one out-of-service order. Vehicle (equipment) defects are placed out of service far more often than driver violations.
| Out-of-service measure | Inspections | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Inspections with an out-of-service order | 580,764 | 18.7% |
| Driver out-of-service inspections | 170,793 | 5.5% |
| Vehicle out-of-service inspections | 459,395 | 14.8% |
| Hazmat out-of-service inspections | 4,937 | 0.2% |
Rates are the share of all 3,102,000 inspections with at least one OOS order of that type. A single inspection can produce both a driver and a vehicle OOS, so the type rates are not mutually exclusive.
By state — where the carriers are
The fifteen US states with the most registered carriers, with the Active count and the counts at FMCSA's two adverse ratings. The raw carrier-count leaders (CA, TX, FL) are the large-population freight states; the states with the most Unsatisfactory carriers are a different set (next table).
| State | Carriers | Active | Conditional | Unsatisfactory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 497,891 | 324,803 | 420 | 7 |
| TX | 371,284 | 189,878 | 569 | 22 |
| FL | 284,693 | 153,733 | 301 | 13 |
| GA | 219,529 | 106,115 | 449 | 12 |
| NY | 211,676 | 127,598 | 334 | 10 |
| PA | 167,573 | 80,632 | 391 | 2 |
| IL | 143,222 | 54,635 | 448 | 31 |
| NC | 132,856 | 53,242 | 542 | 84 |
| MI | 130,003 | 77,213 | 361 | 54 |
| NJ | 129,490 | 48,329 | 255 | 9 |
| OH | 121,310 | 50,858 | 657 | 54 |
| MN | 119,877 | 74,980 | 361 | 32 |
| IN | 107,412 | 46,493 | 275 | 59 |
| WI | 100,888 | 64,878 | 429 | 17 |
| MD | 95,161 | 43,506 | 225 | 6 |
States with the most carriers at FMCSA's worst rating
Ranked by the count of carriers FMCSA rated Unsatisfactory. This ordering does not track raw carrier population — it reflects where compliance reviews landed the worst outcomes.
| State | Unsatisfactory carriers | Conditional carriers |
|---|---|---|
| NC | 84 | 542 |
| KY | 81 | 253 |
| IN | 59 | 275 |
| MI | 54 | 361 |
| OH | 54 | 657 |
| SC | 51 | 186 |
| AR | 33 | 185 |
| MN | 32 | 361 |
| IL | 31 | 448 |
| MS | 28 | 104 |
Largest active carriers rated Unsatisfactory
The fifteen largest carriers, by power units, that FMCSA rated Unsatisfactory and that still held an Active registration at the snapshot. Names are public FMCSA motor-carrier records shown next to FMCSA's own rating; no individual is named and no Fonteum score is assigned.
| Carrier (FMCSA public record) | State | Power units | Drivers | Rated Unsatisfactory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SIMS CRANE & EQUIPMENT COMPANY | FL | 380 | 410 | 1989-05-05 |
| CENTEX MATERIALS LLC | TX | 106 | 106 | 2001-02-16 |
| NORTHSTAR ENERGY SERVICES INC | TX | 84 | 52 | 1989-03-17 |
| M H LOGISTICS CORP | IL | 74 | 30 | 1991-04-21 |
| DUBAI TRUCK LINES INC | TX | 73 | 90 | 2025-01-19 |
| ATLANTIC ELECTRIC LLC | SC | 66 | 66 | 1995-10-12 |
| WT TRANSFER HOLDING COMPANY LLC | AR | 60 | 7 | 1994-05-08 |
| HALOL TRANSPORT LLC | OH | 51 | 51 | 2023-11-12 |
| GEORGE'S FARMS INC | AR | 50 | 31 | 1995-03-03 |
| PIONEER MATERIALS WEST INC | CO | 48 | 60 | 1990-03-28 |
| HOTEL RESTAURANT & SUPPLY INC | MS | 45 | 32 | 1993-09-23 |
| BEST BRANDS INC | TN | 44 | 42 | 1987-05-28 |
| EASTERN IOWA TIRE INC | IA | 43 | 27 | 1991-12-04 |
| PACE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LLC | MO | 42 | 35 | 1988-01-04 |
| NEW BOSTON CONCRETE INC | TX | 41 | 38 | 1993-06-10 |
The “Rated Unsatisfactory” date is when FMCSA assigned the rating — several predate 2000 and appear never to have been revisited. Power units and driver counts are the carrier's own census figures. Confirm any carrier's current status at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.
Reproduce it
Re-derive every figure on this page from the published artifacts:
- Reproducible SQL — the exact aggregation queries, with expected-result comments.
- Download JSON · Download CSV — the committed aggregate snapshot.
Re-check the source snapshots
Every figure here traces to signed source snapshots, not our word for it. Each daily pull is content-hashed and chained; you can re-hash the published bytes against the attestation yourself.
Re-check a snapshot → — re-hash any Fonteum snapshot and confirm the bytes match the chained attestation.
Methodology
The study aggregates one table in the fonteum-platform warehouse: public.fmcsa_carrier_safety_records, a bitemporal store of the FMCSA motor-carrier census, crash, and inspection files (11,150,005 current rows). Every figure filters valid_to IS NULL (the current row per record) and uses row_kind to separate carrier-census (4,457,540), crash (3,590,465), and inspection (3,102,000) rows. Registration status and safety rating come from the census row; crash severity from the crash file's fatality/injury/tow-away fields; out-of-service rates from the inspection file's driver and vehicle OOS totals. State is the carrier's domicile state. The top-N carrier table uses FMCSA's own published Unsatisfactory rating, ordered by census power units; it carries no Fonteum score. Every published figure is re-derivable from the SQL linked above, whose expected-result comments match the committed snapshot exactly.
How to cite this
Fonteum (2026). FMCSA Carrier Safety 2026: Who Is Operating With the Worst Records. Derived from FMCSA Motor Carrier Census, Crash, and Inspection files (snapshot 2026-06-25). https://fonteum.com/gov/research/fmcsa-unsafe-carriers-2026
Canonical URL: https://fonteum.com/gov/research/fmcsa-unsafe-carriers-2026 · License: U.S. Government Works (public domain; 17 U.S.C. §105)
Related federal records evidence
Limitations
- “Operating status” is the census registration code (Active / Inactive). The feed does not carry a separate operating-authority “revoked” flag, so an Inactive record covers authority that lapsed, was revoked, or ceased — the study does not assert which.
- A safety rating is assigned only after a compliance review, so 98.8% of carriers carry no rating. Rating-based figures describe the rated subset, stated explicitly wherever used, and say nothing about the safety of unrated carriers.
- The crash and inspection files are multi-year event logs. Counts are administrative record counts, not unique-incident counts or per-year rates, and a carrier's record reflects its history, not only its current activity.
- Carrier names in the top-N table are normalized FMCSA census records. A carrier's rating may be decades old; an Active registration next to an old Unsatisfactory rating is the published record, not a current finding by Fonteum.
- Figures reflect the FMCSA file as of the 2026-06-25snapshot. Status changes over time; confirm any specific carrier's current status at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.
Sources
Three FMCSA motor-carrier files, all U.S. Government Works (public domain), published through the U.S. DOT open-data portal: the Motor Carrier Census (registration + rating), the Crash file, and the Inspection file.
Source: U.S. DOT FMCSA — Motor Carrier Census, Crash, and Inspection files (data.transportation.gov), snapshot 2026-06-25. Public domain (U.S. Government Works). Confirm any carrier's current status at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. Confirm current status at SAM.gov →
Browse the underlying files at data.transportation.gov.
Frequently asked questions
What do the FMCSA safety ratings — Satisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory — mean?
FMCSA assigns a carrier one of three safety ratings only after an on-site compliance review. Satisfactory means the carrier has controls in place to meet the safety fitness standard. Conditional means it does not have adequate controls and has violations. Unsatisfactory — the worst rating — means it has serious violations that normally lead to an out-of-service order barring it from operating. As of this 2026-06-25 snapshot, of 53,535 rated carriers, 77.6% are Satisfactory, 21% Conditional, and 1.4% Unsatisfactory. Most carriers — 4,404,005 — carry no rating because they have never had a review.
How can a carrier rated Unsatisfactory still be active?
An Unsatisfactory rating normally results in an out-of-service order, but the census still showed 744 Unsatisfactory-rated carriers with an Active registration at the snapshot date. Several explanations are consistent with the public record: a rating can be decades old and never revisited (many in the top-N table date to the late 1980s and 1990s), the carrier may have a single authority type still active while another is barred, or the census status had not yet caught up to an enforcement action. The study reports the record as published and makes no determination about any individual carrier's current authority — confirm current status at the official FMCSA source.
What is an out-of-service order, and what is the difference between driver and vehicle OOS?
During a roadside inspection, an inspector can place a driver or a vehicle "out of service" when a violation is serious enough that continuing to operate would be an imminent hazard — for example, a brake defect (vehicle) or hours-of-service violation (driver). In this data, 18.7% of 3,102,000 inspections produced at least one OOS order. The vehicle OOS rate (14.8%) is well above the driver OOS rate (5.5%): equipment problems are found and acted on more often than driver problems.
Why are half of all registered carriers inactive?
The FMCSA census carries every carrier that has ever registered for a USDOT number and not been purged, so it accumulates carriers that have gone out of business, let their registration lapse, or had their authority revoked. At this snapshot, 50.6% held only an Inactive registration. The census records a status code (Active / Inactive); it does not break out a separate "revoked" reason, so an Inactive record should be read as "not currently active," not specifically as a revocation.
Does this study name any individual?
No. Every figure is an aggregate count or rate — by registration status, safety rating, crash severity, out-of-service outcome, or state. The carrier names in the top-N table are public FMCSA motor-carrier business records shown next to FMCSA's own published safety rating; they are not individuals, and the study assigns no Fonteum risk score, produces no per-person report or dossier, and makes no determination about any carrier. To confirm a specific carrier's current status, search the official FMCSA SAFER system at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.