Abbreviation: CSA
Compliance, Safety, Accountability
FMCSA's safety measurement system that tracks carrier and driver safety performance using roadside inspection, crash, and violation data.
CSA organizes violations into BASICs (Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories): Unsafe Driving, HOS Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials, and Crash Indicator. High BASIC scores can trigger FMCSA interventions or compliance reviews. Roadside violations affect both the carrier's and driver's CSA data.
How CSA BASIC scores are calculated
Each roadside inspection violation is assigned a severity weight (higher for more serious violations) and a time weight (recent violations count more). Violations are grouped into seven BASICs. The carrier's weighted violation count is compared to a peer group of carriers with similar inspection activity levels to produce a percentile score from 0 to 100 — higher means worse relative performance. Scores update monthly as states submit new inspection data and old violations age out of the 24-month calculation window.
Improving CSA scores
Scores improve in two ways: violations age out after 24 months, and successful DataQs challenges remove inaccurate violations from the underlying MCMIS data. For legitimate violations, the fix is operational: train drivers on the most commonly cited violations in your problem BASICs, strengthen pre-trip inspection practices, and address recurring maintenance issues. Vehicle Maintenance is the most common problem BASIC for small carriers — brake defects and tire violations account for a large share of OOS orders.
Last updated: May 29, 2026
When this definition matters
This term usually matters when a driver, owner-operator, or small carrier is deciding whether a federal rule applies, preparing a compliance file, or checking a state CDL step. Use this definition as a starting point, then confirm the controlling requirement in the official source listed below before making a licensing, hiring, dispatch, or recordkeeping decision.
The related terms above are included because they often appear in the same compliance workflow. Reviewing them together can prevent common mix-ups, such as treating a state licensing step as a federal carrier obligation or confusing a driver record with a separate employer record.