The DOT Accident Register: What Counts as a Recordable Crash and What to Keep

Every audit includes a request for your accident register, and a surprising number of small carriers either don’t have one or have one that leaves out crashes that should be on it. It’s one of the simplest records in the regulations — once you know what counts.

What counts as a DOT “accident”

Under the definition in 49 CFR 390.5, an accident is an occurrence involving a commercial motor vehicle operating on a highway in interstate or intrastate commerce that results in:

1. a fatality;
2. bodily injury to a person who receives medical treatment away from the scene immediately after the crash; or
3. one or more vehicles incurring disabling damage requiring them to be towed from the scene.

Fault doesn’t matter. A crash where your driver was rear-ended at a light still goes in the register if it meets any of the three tests.

Not included: incidents that happen only while getting on or off a parked vehicle, and incidents that happen only while loading or unloading cargo.

What the register must contain

Under §390.15, for each accident:

• Date of the accident
• City or town (or nearest), and state
• Driver’s name
• Number of injuries
• Number of fatalities
• Whether hazardous materials (other than fuel from the vehicle’s own tanks) were released

You must also keep copies of all accident reports required by state or other governmental agencies, or by insurers.

The connection to post-accident testing

A recordable accident can also trigger a post-accident drug and alcohol test under §382.303 — but the triggers aren’t identical:

• Any fatality: test the driver, whether or not they were cited.
• Injury treated away from the scene, or disabling damage tow-away: test the driver only if they received a citation for a moving traffic violation arising from the accident.

Alcohol tests should happen within 2 hours (and can’t be done after 8 hours); drug tests within 32 hours. If a test isn’t done in time, document why.

Crash preventability

Crashes on your register can also feed into FMCSA’s safety measurement data. If a crash was clearly not preventable by your driver — for example, your parked truck was struck — you can submit it to FMCSA’s Crash Preventability Determination Program for review. Keep the police report and any photos or video; they’re what that process relies on.

Common mistakes

• No register at all, because “we haven’t had any serious crashes.”
• Leaving out crashes where the other driver was at fault.
• Missing tow-away crashes with no injuries.
• Not keeping the police and insurance reports with the register.
• Missing a required post-accident test.

Keep it with the rest of your records

An accident register is one of the documents an auditor asks for in the first hour, alongside driver files, testing and vehicle records. If those other records live in TruckComply, the audit export pulls them together — so the register is the only thing left to hand over, not one of a dozen things to find.