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Trucking Safety and Compliance | Helping trucking companies organize safety & improve safety scores!

10/16/2026

Even small paperwork gaps can create bigger compliance problems than fleets expect.

Staying organized is not just about passing inspections. It helps support smoother operations, better recordkeeping, and more confidence when documents need to be reviewed.

The right system can make day-to-day compliance easier to manage and harder to overlook.

10/15/2026

When a BASIC shows 80%, a lot of owners read it like a test score. 80 out of 100, not bad. It means the opposite. It means you're performing worse than about 80% of carriers in your comparison group.

That's why the same violation can hit two carriers differently. The system compares you with carriers of similar size and activity, so your power units and miles matter, and an outdated MCS-150 means the math is running on wrong numbers.

It's also why cleaning up takes time. You're not climbing toward a fixed grade. You're moving relative to everyone else, and recent violations weigh the most. Results vary by fleet.

This is Chapter 5 of Safety Is the New Profit. Save this for the next time someone tells you your score is 80 out of 100.

10/13/2026

Drivers call in after an inspection all the time and say it went fine because the officer only gave a warning. Then the violation shows up on the company's record a few weeks later and nobody understands why.

The difference between the state side and the federal side is the first training every driver should get. It decides what you can fight, where you fight it, and whether it's already too late by the time you hear about it.

Save this and send it to your drivers this week.

10/09/2026

Today the 2027 UCR registration period opens. For a lot of fleets, that is the moment compliance shows up on the calendar for the first time since last December.

That is the pattern Chapter 8 is about. Most owners start with ambition, get the loans, buy the trucks, chase the miles, and only ask how to stay compliant after they hit a wall. Then compliance feels like something bolted on, fighting against everything else.

The fleets that stay profitable do it the other way around. Hours of service, registrations, driver files, and maintenance get built into the plan from the start, the same way fuel and insurance do. Nothing to fight later, because it was never extra.

Tag the person who handles your registrations and ask when 2027 UCR goes on the calendar.

10/07/2026

When Nat was running safety at her brothers' company, they had the policies. They had the systems. Violations kept creeping in anyway. Logs not certified. Speeding alerts every day.

So she tried something that sounded a little silly. They created a Driver Relations role and gave it to her youngest brother, the friendliest person in the building. His whole job was to check in with drivers every morning. Review the logs, flag small stuff early, and also ask about their weekend and their dog.

Within two weeks, speeding dropped. Missed log certifications almost disappeared. Idle time went down. No new policy. No new software. Just someone who noticed.

Behavior follows attention. When nobody checks, nobody tries.

Who on your team calls drivers when nothing is wrong? Tell us in the comments.

10/06/2026

It's Drive Safely Work Week, so here is the fatigue rule most owners have never read.

Most fatigue conversations stop at the hours of service clock. But 392.3 puts the responsibility on the company too, not just the driver. If a driver tells dispatch they're wiped out and the answer is "just get it there," that's not a driver problem anymore.

The business side is simple. A tired driver is where preventable crashes come from, and crashes are where insurance renewals go to die. Letting a driver rest costs you a load. A crash costs you the year.
Share this with whoever dispatches your trucks.

10/05/2026

A busy week, and all three items come back to the same place: the driver in the seat and the records behind them.

The ELD is the one to check first, because it parks a truck on the spot starting tomorrow. The med card exemption ends Sunday, and FMCSA has been clear it is not planning another nationwide extension. The English proficiency proposal is the long game, but the comment window closes Friday if you want your voice on the record.

None of these take long to check. They only get expensive when someone else checks first.

Which one is already handled at your operation? Comments are open.

10/03/2026

A look back at our FMCSA Mechanical Shop Compliance & Vehicle Inspection Training! 🚛🔧

Mechanics and fleet managers worked through common vehicle defects, hands-on inspections, and proper repair documentation—focusing on what to look for and how to address issues before they become roadside violations.

A great reminder that keeping trucks safe starts with the everyday work happening in the shop.

📩 Interested in training for your team? Get in touch with Trucking Safety to learn more!

10/02/2026

DOT compliance is not only about reacting when something goes wrong. It is also about understanding the small details that affect daily operations, recordkeeping, and overall readiness.

The right training can help fleets better understand what to watch, what to improve internally, and where consistency matters most.

Take time to review whether your current compliance process is clear, practical, and easy to maintain. Comment COURSE to learn more about our DOT Compliance Course.

09/29/2026

Most small fleets hire like this. Owner finds a driver, sends the license to the insurance agent, agent says yes, driver is approved. Then somebody gets told to build the file.

Notice what happened there. The safety check was “can we insure him.” The compliance task was assembling paperwork for a decision that was already made. Nobody asked whether this person should be trusted with the DOT number.

Compliance is about tasks. Safety is about behavior. You need both, and most companies only do one.
Tag a safety manager who has had to build a file for a driver they never got to evaluate.

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