How is a crash removed from a SMS basic score? Raymond Moss January 17, 2025 15:59 Updated The FMCSA categorizes crashes differently than others do. For example, crashes are often referred to by carriers, police and legal as "at fault" or "not at fault". The FMCSA does not consider who is "at fault" for a crash when determining your Crash scores. The FMCSA looks at the crash from a "preventable" or "not preventable" point of view. If a crash is moved to the "not preventable" category it will be listed with the FMCSA as "reviewed - not preventable". According to SMS methodology scoring (see Page 16 of the SMS Methodology PDF/section, not preventable crashes/last sentence), "the crash will be removed from a carrier’s measure and percentile in the Crash Indicator BASIC" score. When submitting a crash to Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP) via the DataQ system, your Crash must fit one of the following categories to be considered. If your request fits one of the listed categories it may be submitted to be reviewed by FMCSA. The Crash is then put in an Undecided category while being reviewed. A final CPDP determination will then be made. The possible final CPDP determinations are: Undecided - if the FMCSA cannot make a decision based on the information they review. Not Preventable - if the driver did everything possible during the crash to prevent it Preventable - if the driver did not do everything possible to prevent the crash. Warning: When a crash is submitted for review by the FMCSA, and it is determined to be a "preventable", the crash will move to the preventable category. This can further deteriorate the interpreted crash score for those reviewing a motor carrier's SMS data. This risk must be considered before using CPDP on a crash. Comments 0 comments Article is closed for comments.