21
Eligible crash types (since Dec 1, 2024)
$0
Cost to file through DataQs
24 mo
A crash affects your Crash Indicator
Not erased
Excluded from the score, kept on record
In This Guide
What the Crash Preventability Determination Program Is
Not every crash on your record is your fault, but FMCSA's Safety Measurement System counts them the same way at first. When a commercial motor vehicle is involved in a DOT-reportable crash, that crash feeds the Crash Indicator BASIC regardless of who caused it. A truck that was sitting legally at a red light and got rear-ended by a distracted driver takes the same initial hit to its Crash Indicator as a truck that ran the light. The Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP) is the mechanism FMCSA built to separate the two.
Under the program, if your crash falls into one of FMCSA's eligible crash types, you can ask the agency to review it and determine whether it was preventable or not preventable by the carrier or driver. You submit the request through the same DataQs portal used for other safety-data challenges, but the crash review is handled directly by FMCSA rather than by a state analyst. FMCSA made the CPDP permanent on May 1, 2020, and significantly expanded the list of eligible crash types effective December 1, 2024.
Preventability is a different question from fault
FMCSA does not ask "who was legally at fault?" It asks whether the driver, who exercises normal judgment and foresight, could have done something to avoid the crash. A determination of Not Preventable means the answer is no. That framing is why eligible types tend to be situations where the CMV was struck, was stationary, or had no realistic way to avoid the collision.
This guide is specifically about crashes. If your goal is to dispute a roadside-inspection violation, a duplicate record, or a citation attributed to the wrong carrier, that is a general DataQs accuracy challenge with its own workflow — see our walkthrough on how to challenge a DataQ for that process. Crashes have their own dedicated path through the CPDP, and that is what we cover below.
Which Crashes Are Eligible for a Preventability Review
As of the December 1, 2024 expansion, FMCSA reviews 21 eligible crash types. The original program covered a narrower set of "struck by" scenarios; the expansion added categories such as crashes caused by an animal strike, infrastructure failure, and another driver's medical emergency, and broadened the program to accept any crash supported by video that clearly demonstrates the sequence of events. The categories below reflect the current eligible list.
Eligible crash categories (21, as of Dec 1, 2024)
This list reflects the December 1, 2024 expansion to 21 eligible crash types. FMCSA updates the program periodically, so confirm the current categories and the exact required documentation in FMCSA's official CPDP Eligibility Guide before filing.
Eligibility is necessary, not sufficient
Falling into an eligible crash type only gets your submission reviewed. FMCSA still examines the evidence and can find a crash Preventable, Not Preventable, or that the documentation was insufficient to make a determination. The eligible-type list opens the door; the police report and your supporting evidence decide what happens once you are through it.
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What a "Not Preventable" Determination Actually Does
This is the single most misunderstood part of the program, so it is worth being precise. A Not-Preventable determination does not remove the crash from your record. The crash continues to appear in the Safety Measurement System, and it remains visible in the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) report that insurers, brokers, and prospective employers pull. What the determination changes is how the crash is used.
Specifically, a crash found Not Preventable is moved into a separate "Reviewed - Not Preventable" listing and is excluded from the carrier's measure and percentile in the Crash Indicator BASIC. FMCSA does not count it when calculating that score, and it is not used to prioritize your carrier for interventions. In practical terms, the crash stops dragging down your Crash Indicator while staying on the record with a clear annotation that FMCSA reviewed it and did not attribute it to your operation.
What a determination does NOT do
- Delete the crash from the SMS
- Remove the crash from your PSP report
- Change who was legally at fault
- Refund or reverse any insurance premium already charged
- Apply automatically — you must file the request
What it DOES do
- Excludes the crash from the Crash Indicator BASIC measure
- Excludes it from your Crash Indicator percentile
- Removes it from FMCSA intervention prioritization
- Lists it separately as "Reviewed - Not Preventable"
- Signals to anyone reading the record that FMCSA reviewed it
Because a crash affects your Crash Indicator for 24 months, the timing of your filing matters. A determination that lands while the crash is still inside that window is what actually moves your percentile. Once the crash has aged out of the calculation, a Not-Preventable determination cleans up the historical record but no longer changes your current score — so the practical rule is to file as soon as the police report is available rather than waiting.
How to File a Crash Preventability Request, Step by Step
The submission goes through DataQs as a Request for Data Review (RDR), but the crash review is its own track inside the system. The workflow below front-loads the part that decides the outcome — the evidence.
Confirm the crash is an eligible type
Pull the crash record from your SMS data and match it against FMCSA's current eligible crash-type list. If the crash plausibly fits one of the 21 categories — struck in the rear, struck while parked, struck by an impaired or wrong-way driver, and so on — it is a candidate. If it does not fit any category, the CPDP is not the right path.
Assemble the police report and supporting evidence
The police accident report (PAR) is required and is the backbone of the request. Add everything that corroborates it: dashcam or surveillance video, dated scene and damage photos, the other driver's citation, toxicology or DUI findings, and witness statements. This package is the heart of the determination.
Submit the Request for Data Review through DataQs
Log into the DataQs portal (dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov), open a Request for Data Review, select the crash record, identify the eligible crash type, describe what happened factually, and upload the police report and supporting evidence. There is no filing fee, and the crash request routes to FMCSA rather than to a state.
Track the request and respond to FMCSA
Monitor the request to resolution. If FMCSA asks for more information, respond promptly — incomplete or unsupported submissions are commonly returned as "unable to determine." When the determination posts, the crash is either left in the Crash Indicator (Preventable / insufficient evidence) or moved to the Reviewed - Not Preventable listing and excluded from the score.
The reviewer decides on the documents, not the story
FMCSA cannot re-investigate your crash. It decides on the police report and the evidence you attach. The carriers that win Not-Preventable determinations are not the ones with the best argument — they are the ones who can produce a clean police report and corroborating video the moment the crash posts, and file inside the 24-month window while the determination still moves the score.
The Evidence That Wins a Determination
Preventability determinations are evidence contests. Here is what FMCSA reviewers respond to, roughly in order of weight:
The police accident report (required)
The PAR is the anchor of every submission. The officer's narrative, the diagram, and any assignment of fault to the other party carry the most weight. If the report is incomplete or has not been finalized, request the certified copy from the reporting agency before you file.
Dashcam or surveillance video
Video that clearly shows the sequence of events is the most persuasive corroboration available and underpins the expanded video-based eligibility category. Forward-facing and rear-facing footage that shows your vehicle stationary or struck is often decisive.
Scene and damage photographs
Dated photos of vehicle positions, points of impact, skid marks, and road conditions corroborate the report and the video. Damage patterns that match a rear or side strike support the eligible-type claim.
Citations, toxicology, and witness statements
A citation issued to the other driver, a DUI or toxicology finding, or independent witness statements all reinforce that your driver could not have avoided the crash. These turn a plausible claim into a documented one.
The common thread is that the evidence must already exist and be retrievable when you need it. A police report you never collected, a dashcam clip that was overwritten after 30 days, or photos lost on a driver's personal phone cannot win a determination they were never part of. The win is decided long before you open DataQs — it is decided by whether the crash packet was captured and kept.
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Why a Crash Determination Matters for CSA and Insurance
Crashes are unusually high-stakes because they hit two systems at once. On the compliance side, the crash feeds the Crash Indicator BASIC, one of the seven scored categories in FMCSA's Safety Measurement System. A cluster of recent crashes can push your Crash Indicator over the intervention threshold and pull FMCSA attention onto your operation — which is exactly the dynamic covered in our guide to how to improve your CSA score, where crashes are one of the heaviest inputs.
On the financial side, crash history is one of the first things an underwriter looks at. Insurers and brokers pull your record through PSP and SMS, and a crash-heavy profile raises premiums and can disqualify you from freight regardless of who was at fault — a connection we cover in detail in does your CSA score affect insurance. A Not-Preventable determination removes the crash from the Crash Indicator score and flags it as reviewed, which both lowers the scored risk and gives anyone reading the record context that the crash was examined and not attributed to you.
Know your odds before you invest the effort
Eligible, well-documented crashes have historically had a strong chance of a Not-Preventable finding, while submissions without a supporting police report or video are routinely returned as "unable to determine." It is worth understanding general DataQs success rates and the evidence patterns that drive them before you decide which crashes to pursue — the program rewards strong packages and quietly penalizes thin ones.
Mistakes That Sink a Preventability Submission
Filing without the police report
The PAR is the foundation. Submitting before it is finalized, or with an unofficial version, is the fastest way to get an "unable to determine" result. Wait for the certified copy.
Letting the dashcam footage expire
Many systems overwrite video on a 7-to-30-day loop. If you do not pull and preserve the clip immediately after a crash, the single most persuasive piece of evidence is gone before you ever file.
Treating it like a fault dispute
FMCSA is deciding preventability, not legal fault. Arguing about insurance liability or who gets the ticket misses the point. Show that your driver could not have avoided the crash.
Trying to remove an accurate, preventable crash
The CPDP is not a forgiveness program. A crash your driver could have avoided will be found Preventable and stays in the score. Pursue eligible, genuinely non-preventable crashes.
Waiting until the crash has aged out
A determination only moves your percentile while the crash is still in the 24-month calculation window. File promptly, not when an insurer flags the record a year and a half later.
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How FileFlo Keeps the Crash Packet Ready
FileFlo does not file CPDP requests for you — you submit the Request for Data Review, because you are the carrier and the determination is yours to pursue. What FileFlo does is the part that actually decides preventability outcomes: it is the records and proof layer that keeps each crash's police report, dashcam footage, scene photos, citations, and witness statements organized by event and instantly retrievable, so that when a crash plausibly fits an eligible type you can file a complete, well-documented request inside the window instead of reconstructing it after the evidence is gone.
You file the determination request; FileFlo holds the proof
- Crash packets organized by event: Store the police accident report, video, photos, citations, and witness statements together against each crash, so an eligible crash can be submitted to the CPDP with a complete package the moment it posts.
- Evidence retained before it expires: Keep dashcam clips and scene photos attached to the crash record so they are not overwritten or lost on a driver's phone — the most persuasive evidence is preserved while it still exists.
- File while it still counts: Because everything is retrievable on demand, you can act on a new crash as soon as the report is available and file inside the 24-month window, when a Not-Preventable determination actually moves your Crash Indicator.
- One record layer for the whole fleet: Inspection reports, DQF documents, and crash evidence live in one place, so the documentation behind a DataQs filing or a preventability review is never scattered across folders and inboxes.
FileFlo is a compliance records platform. It is not a DataQs- or CPDP-filing service, and it is not a SOC 2-audited product. Plan pricing is shown at checkout.
Key Takeaways
- The CPDP reviews eligible crashes for preventability. As of the December 1, 2024 expansion, FMCSA reviews 21 eligible crash types; you file a Request for Data Review through DataQs and FMCSA makes the determination.
- A Not-Preventable determination does not erase the crash. It stays in the SMS and PSP, listed separately as "Reviewed - Not Preventable," but is excluded from the Crash Indicator BASIC measure and percentile.
- The police report plus video wins determinations. FMCSA decides on the documents; a clean PAR and corroborating dashcam footage separate a Not-Preventable finding from "unable to determine."
- Crashes hit CSA and insurance together. They drive the Crash Indicator for 24 months and shape underwriting through PSP — a Not-Preventable determination lowers the scored risk and adds context to the record.
- File while it still counts. A determination only moves your percentile while the crash is inside the 24-month window, so capture the crash packet immediately and file promptly.
Keep Every Crash Packet Ready Before You Need It
Preventability determinations are decided by the police report and video you attach. FileFlo keeps each crash's documentation organized and retrievable, so you can file a complete Request for Data Review inside the window that actually moves your Crash Indicator. You file the determination request; FileFlo holds the proof — it is the records layer, not a CPDP-filing service.
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