Federal Motor Carrier Safety (FMCSA & 49 CFR)

The FMCSA regulates interstate commercial motor carriers, drivers, and vehicles. Its rules cover qualifications, hours of service, vehicle maintenance, drug and alcohol testing, and safety management. Michigan truck crash cases often turn on whether the carrier and driver complied with these federal standards.

Violations of FMCSA regulations can support negligence claims against carriers and drivers and help explain why a crash was preventable.

We pull safety measurement system data, prior violations, ELD records, and maintenance files and map them to the federal rules that apply to your crash.

Part 390 sets the scope of federal motor carrier safety rules and defines key terms like commercial motor vehicle and motor carrier. It is the entry point for the regulatory framework that applies to most interstate trucking operations.

Carriers cannot avoid federal safety duties by claiming they did not know which rules applied. Part 390 frames which vehicles and operations must comply.

We use Part 390 to establish that the defendant motor carrier was subject to the full set of FMCSR duties in your case.

Part 391 requires carriers to verify that drivers are qualified, including required applications, medical certification, driving-record review, road-test requirements or equivalents, driver qualification files, and compliance with prohibitions on disqualified drivers.

If a driver should not have been behind the wheel, Part 391 violations can expose the motor carrier to direct liability for negligent hiring and entrustment.

We obtain driver qualification files, hiring records, and MVR history to test whether the carrier met Part 391 before dispatch.

Part 395 limits driving time, on-duty time, and hours-of-service documentation for covered drivers. Electronic logging devices (ELDs) are required where applicable. Fatigue-related crashes often involve hours-of-service violations or falsified logs.

When a driver was over hours or logs do not match GPS or toll data, that evidence can rebut the carrier's defense and show preventable risk.

We preserve ELD and ECM data immediately and compare it to Part 395 limits and dispatch records.

Part 396 requires systematic inspection, repair, and maintenance of covered commercial motor vehicles, maintenance records, driver vehicle inspection reporting where applicable, and periodic inspections. Brake, tire, and lighting failures tied to skipped maintenance are common in serious truck crashes.

Deferred maintenance is not an accident — it is a choice. Part 396 violations help prove the carrier knew or should have known the vehicle was unsafe.

We subpoena maintenance invoices, inspection reports, and vendor records as soon as we are retained.

Federal rules separately prohibit texting while driving and restrict hand-held mobile telephone use by commercial motor vehicle drivers, with limited emergency exceptions. Violations are safety infractions that can support negligence claims when distraction causes a crash.

Distracted commercial driving at highway speeds is catastrophic. This rule gives a clear federal standard beyond state traffic law.

We seek phone records, cab video, and dispatch communications to prove distraction when the facts support it.