Did You See Your Driving Record Lately?

How does your record look like? As a CDL holder you should know that there are two types of driving record: first is your regular driving record which you can obtain from Secretary of State, at any driver license facility in your state, and the second one, is the PSP record that company will obtain from FMCSA. You can also get a copy of it by visiting https://www.psp.fmcsa.dot.gov/psp/oa/AppInfo.aspx

As an experienced driver you should know about the driving record from Secretary of State, the rules are simple: keep them moving violations off your record, and you should be good. The only observation I can share after driving a truck for 10+ years, and then working in safety and compliance ever since,- was that if you keep your record clean, the police or DOT officer will be just a tiny bit more hesitant to issue that ticket to you. And if your record has a lot on it already, it will be just another ticket for you and the officer.

So let’s talk about the PSP record. Ever since CSA 2010 most trucking companies that care about the business, their good name and safety score had no other choice, but to seriously jump on every safety related issue in the book. Driver screening was one of them, and this is how PSP was created and made available for both, – carrier and driver.

PSP record includes drivers five year crash and three-year inspection history from FMCSA’s MCMIS database. It is very detailed record that will show every inspection and every violation in detail. Next time when you get a warning for speeding, or some small logbook or seatbelt violation (not even a fine or out of service), remember – it is on your PSP record. And for most companies PSP record will be the main deciding factor in hiring or not hiring a driver.

We’re all in one boat, your violations will stay with you for a while, and it will directly affect the company safety score for a long time, even if you left the company. I just want to end this post with an invitation to drive safe, and play by the rules created for our society to be safer and coexistence possible.