The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s 2026 International Roadcheck is officially in the rearview after today, and history tells us somewhere around 80% of trucks and 94% of drivers inspected during the three-day blitz were likely able to continue on with the day, based on prior CVSA reporting.
Those remaining, however, had some work to do, parked with out-of-service violations.
Just 5% of Overdrive's mostly owner-operators readers reported a violation incurred during last year's Roadcheck, and 79% weren't inspected at all. How'd it go for you this year?
If you or one or another of your trucks received a violation whose accuracy you dispute -- OOS or not -- you have recourse with the DataQs system.
[Related: How inspectors are catching remote ELD cheats: Roadcheck in Tennessee]
Overdrive's Partners in Business playbook for owner-operator careers features a tutorial at this link about succeeding with challenges in the system, yet as reported last month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced changes coming soon to that process for states, which handle most DataQ requests.
Early reporting indicated most states likely won’t have a lot to change about their processes. Advice in the PIB tutorial still applies.
Yet every state rep we've consulted on DataQs has been clear on one thing, believe it or not: If you’re a driver or carrier who truly believes the inspecting officer got it wrong, states want to correct the record to ensure safety scores are as accurate as they possibly can be.
Yet FMCSA places a pretty big burden on carriers in that regard. Its new DataQs standards for states noted the "burden of proof" for all DataQs reviews is "entirely with the requestor" -- the party challenging the violation, inspection, or crash. States' discretion to reject requests out of hand that are submitted without minimal factual or legal justification, furthermore, was underscored in FMCSA's notice announcing the new standards.
Owner-operator business services firm ATBS is coproducer with Overdrive of Partners in Business, a comprehensive playbook for an owner-operator career in online-library format, accessible 24/7/365.
[Related: DOT-recordable crashes: Fight unfair penalties with DataQs reviews]
Keep it timely
CVSA Roadside Inspection Specialist Jeremy Disbrow said in the latest episode of Overdrive sister publication CCJ’s weekly 10-44 video series, publishing Friday, that while carriers and drivers “have three years to submit a DataQ after the violation is written,” it’s more beneficial to submit the challenge as soon as possible.
“The violation has the most points at the beginning” in FMCSA’s CSA Safety Measurement System (SMS). “So it's best to do it early, especially because it's fresh in the inspector's mind at that time, too."
Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Kevin Kelley said any challenges should be filed “as quickly as possible,” and “make sure you provide good supporting documentation.”
Kellley noted he well understood “how hard drivers and carriers work to keep their scores good and their records clean. Obviously, we never want to make a mistake or penalize a carrier or driver incorrectly.”
Arkansas Highway Police Chief Jeff Holmes echoed Kelley and Disbrow both on timeliness. “I would advise a carrier to file your DataQ in a timely manner," Holmes said, "and provide a clear statement of what you are wanting AHP to review."
[Related: DataQs reform: FMCSA bans issuing-officer decisions on challenges, puts rules on states]
DataQs to-do: Bring the evidence
Capt. Karl Mittelstadt of the Wisconsin Highway Patrol advises any owner-operator to “submit every piece of possible evidence you can” that supports the argument his office was in the wrong. “Send in as much evidence as you possibly can.”
Holmes in Arkansas said as much himself: “Provide details, documentation, photos and evidence relevant to assist.”
To provide sufficient evidence, Tennessee Highway Patrol Lt. Christopher Brooks encourages carriers to take time to properly prepare before filing the initial review. Know the regulation that underpins the violation you're challenging, and use it to show your case.
“A little hard work and vetting on the front end can save you time and money,” Brooks said. “It is important that requestors review all available evidence prior to submitting a DataQ to ensure there is a valid claim to be made and that all supporting documents needed for a proper review are submitted. The most common issue that we see is not having all the necessary documentation to determine if the decision was incorrect or valid.”
Brooks added that Tennessee’s DataQs team often gets partial or "irrelevant/insufficient documentation preventing us from conducting a review,” which “lengthens the time it takes to reach resolution.”
Georgia State Patrol Lt. Stephen Burnham similarly advised carriers and drivers to “invest the time” in filing the DataQ for success making the case. “If you are really committed or you believe a DataQ is worthy of submission, put ample justification in it and explain everything well.”
As Nebraska State Patrol Lt. Mike Maytum advised, treat a DataQs challenge like you’re presenting your case in court. “If you believe there is a factual basis for a change, state that, along with proof and documentation,” he said. “We are never hesitant to make an appropriate change. Law enforcement officers are fallible and can make mistakes.”
That “proof and documentation” he alluded to needs to be solid, however. “Hearsay from drivers is rarely enough to make a change,” he said. It’s also worth noting that in many jurisdictions across the U.S., officers are using body-worn cameras that record everything that was said and done during a stop.
DataQs not-to-do: Dartboard approach, opinion overload the system, creating delays
Burnham urged operators to avoid the “let me just DataQ it and see what happens” approach in which there’s “not really a lot of substance in my justification and I don’t really explain why the DataQ is being submitted” to just “see if I can get it removed.”
That, Burnham said, takes away resources from legitimate challenges and hurts the system as a whole.
“We only have so much capacity," he said, "so make it as easy as you can for us to understand what you’re trying to convey.”
Nebraska's Maytum urged carriers to “be realistic about requests, because just throwing darts at the board to see what might stick will clog the system and slow the process for everyone."
Another thing challengers should not do, Wisconsin’s Mittelstadt said, is take the “not my truck, not my driver” approach, he said. If that’s all you have, with no inventory of your own fleet and employed drivers to prove that an inspection of John Smith in that International Lonestar at the I-90 scale house wasn’t of a driver running under your authority legitimately, it's not going to work.
Not my truck, not my driver in such a case “really tells us nothing," he said. "You have to give us more than that.”
Making a case is about a lot more than just having an opinion. Mittelstadt noted the out-of-service criterion that specifies a tire inflated to less than 50% of its rated PSI is out-of-service. If the inspector measured the tire at 10% and your DataQ request for review notes just that “'we don’t feel it was an out-of-service violation,' we can’t change that.”
Another common filing: The aggrieved sense many bring to violations documented during inspection that occurred during the course of a run, not observed during the driver’s pre-trip. Mittelstadt wants equipment owners to understand that, fundamentally, inspectors are there to document those issues before they create an unsafe condition over-the-road.
Viewed one way, they're there to help identify a real problem, in other words.
Naturally, owner-operators bristle at being dinged on an inspection report for something as seemingly small as a headlight out when they know full well it was working during the pre-trip. But a DataQs challenge that does no more than point this out -- my driver did the pre-trip and the headlight was working -- will fail every time.
“It will still remain a violation,” Mittelstadt said.
Take advantage of resources available
Small fleets and owner-operators can take matters into their own hands in myriad ways, Mittelstadt noted, echoing THP’s Brooks in some ways with advice to take advantage of your state’s enforcement officers and any programs they might offer.
[Related: How to challenge erroneous violation, crash information: FMCSA's DataQs system]
Brooks referenced roadside events like Roadcheck, and Mittelstadt noted a program designed for Wisconsin intrastate New Entrants that is open to any New Entrant, really, designed to help new carriers better understand regulatory responsibilities.
It’s a free-to-attend eight-hour training program, in partnership with technical colleges around the state on a rotating basis. Training covers vehicle maintenance, driver qualification files, permitting and authority, among other topic areas.
“We do actually get a pretty good representation” from New Entrants in those sessions, he said, pushing news out through industry associations and emailing directly to “every motor carrier [in Wisconsin] that applies for a USDOT number. … We really push the educational component” in hopes to cement partnership with the majority of industry on compliance. More trucking operations in near-perfect shape frees inspectors to focus enforcement resources where they’re needed.
“We have enough bad carriers we can deal with” otherwise, he noted.
An owner-operator probably doesn’t need to go so far as to “attend CVSA conferences” in far-flung places around the nation, he said, “but know what’s out there for resources.” CVSA inspection bulletins are posted for free, with a plethora of information to digest.
“Owning a copy of the CVSA out-of-service criteria,” Mittelstadt noted, will help inform a more complete understanding of the regs. The OOS criteria are “not the standard for your trucks, the regulations are,” he added, but “there’s so much information in that book. … You need to understand what the rules and the laws are out there.”
If you have a copy on hand, every year (typically in February) CVSA publishes updates made to the OOS criteria and distributes them freely to industry. Overdrive reports on them annually when they become available, too.
Wisconsin operates a hotline within the state Department of Transportation to specialists for all manner of motor carrier-related information at 608-267-9762. Use it, noted Mittelstadt, for a “contact directly to us where we can answer those questions.”
[Related: FMCSA's state DataQs reform sparks call for 'frivolous'-challenge penalties]
Find more insight via PIB on DataQs, particularly with respect to violations associated with citations adjudicated in court in your favor. Federal policy directs removal of such violations via DataQs, depending on the result in court. The table below outlines the basics, with more information available at the prior link.
