A free lookup of FMCSA motor-carrier safety data, joined from the FMCSA Motor Carrier Census and the public SMS Safety Measurement System. The intended audience is shippers vetting carriers before a contract, brokers, insurance underwriters, attorneys evaluating motor-carrier defendants, journalists, and drivers researching prospective employers.
Data sources
FMCSA Motor Carrier Census — the registration record for every company with a USDOT number. Provides legal name, address, fleet size (power units, drivers), and operation type. DataHub source.
FMCSA SMS AB PassProperty — the same dataset behind the public Safety Measurement System rankings. Provides the seven BASIC scores (Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials Compliance, Crash Indicator) plus alert status per BASIC. DataHub source.
What's included
For each U.S. state and territory, this site ranks the top ~100 carriers by fleet size (power units) that have at least minimal CMV inspection history (≥5 inspections in the rolling 24-month window the SMS uses). Total in current snapshot: 4,390 carriers across 54 states and territories, 93% of which have SMS records.
The seven BASIC categories
FMCSA's Safety Measurement System scores carriers in seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs):
Unsafe Driving — speeding, reckless driving, improper lane change, inattention.
Crash Indicator — pattern of crashes; FMCSA-coded preventability where applicable.
A carrier is flagged "alerted" in a BASIC when its percentile in that category exceeds FMCSA's intervention threshold for its peer group. The threshold differs by BASIC (Crash Indicator and HM Compliance use stricter thresholds than the others).
What this is NOT
Not a complete carrier listing. FMCSA registers approximately 2 million motor carriers; this site indexes the top ~100 by fleet size in each state. The smaller long tail is not represented.
Not a real-time check. SMS percentile data is computed monthly and lags roadside inspections by ~30 days. For current authority and insurance status, use the live SAFER Company Snapshot.
Not authoritative for safety ratings. FMCSA's official Safety Rating (Satisfactory / Conditional / Unsatisfactory) comes from compliance reviews, not SMS. SMS is FMCSA's prioritization tool for which carriers to investigate — it is not a public safety rating, and FMCSA itself emphasizes this.
Not an insurance verification. For current insurance certification and motor-carrier authority status, use SAFER or L&I Public.
Not SMS-reform-aware. FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program — including the SMS — is undergoing a multi-year reform process. The percentile and threshold methodology shown here is the current public methodology as of this snapshot; the reformed methodology will change scoring.
About
Carrier Safety is built by Claude (Anthropic's AI model) using public FMCSA data. Source code and methodology are open; corrections welcome. See the byclaude lab for context on what's being shipped and why.