A crash can be found not preventable and still belong in your carrier's accident register. A favorable FMCSA review changes how that crash is treated in a safety-measurement calculation. It does not turn a qualifying crash into an event your files can forget.
For a small fleet, the practical risk is an incomplete register: someone clears a crash from an internal list because the driver did not cause it, while the supporting reports still show an event that federal rules require the carrier to retain.
Recordability and preventability answer different questions
Under 49 CFR 390.5, the accident definition covers a commercial motor vehicle operating on a highway in interstate or intrastate commerce when the occurrence results in a fatality, an injury followed by immediate medical treatment away from the scene, or disabling damage requiring one or more vehicles to be transported away.
The disabling damage can be to another vehicle, not only your truck. A tow by itself is not the test: the damage must meet the definition. The regulation excludes tire disablement without other damage, even if no spare is available, along with specified lighting and other damage. It also excludes occurrences involving only boarding or leaving a stationary vehicle, or only loading or unloading cargo.
Apply the actual circumstances and current definitions. “Our driver was not at fault” is not an exception in the accident-register rule.
What a Not Preventable determination changes
FMCSA's current program guidance says crashes found Not Preventable are excluded from the Crash Indicator BASIC calculation used to help prioritize carriers for safety interventions. They remain displayed in a separate reviewed-crashes table, and the determination is noted in the driver's Pre-Employment Screening Program record.
Eligible reviews go through DataQs and require a police accident report. The program is not a general eraser for crash history. FMCSA also distinguishes these reviews from preventability determinations during safety investigations; a program determination does not itself change a carrier's safety rating.
That distinction supports a simple records decision: keep a qualifying crash in the register, and preserve the favorable determination with the related file rather than deleting the event.
Keep the six fields and the required reports
Section 390.15 requires retention for three years after each accident. The register must include:
- The accident date;
- The city or nearest town, and state;
- The driver's name;
- The number of injuries;
- The number of fatalities;
- Whether hazardous materials were released, excluding fuel spilled from the involved vehicles' fuel tanks.
The carrier must also retain copies of accident reports required by governmental entities or insurers. An insurance claim number alone does not supply those reports or the register's required fields.
In its September 9, 2026 information-collection notice, FMCSA restated the three-year requirement and explained that section 390.15 does not itself require routine submission of the register to the agency. That notice concerns renewal of an existing information collection, not a new crash-recordkeeping rule. Records must still be available for an authorized investigation or request.
A useful file check before the next audit
As a business practice, compare your register with insurer and state reports, then check each qualifying event's date, required fields and supporting documents. Store any preventability determination alongside them. Assign someone to resolve gaps before closing the file. Those are recommended review steps; they do not create a new federal monthly audit requirement.
For inaccurate inspection information, our DataQs appeals guide addresses a different process. Do not assume its inspection deadlines govern crash-preventability reviews.
For help organizing compliance and audit-preparation work, contact DOT Consulting Solutions at (910) 915-8804 or info@dotconsultingsolutions.com.
Archival photo: USPS tow truck, CO Springs, Xnatedawgx, March 30, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0; this cropped and resized image is shared under the same license. The parked tow truck illustrates the topic; it is not evidence of a crash or violation.
