Understanding the FMCSA’s Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP)
How the program works, what safety data it provides, and why new legislation could expand how motor carriers use it
When transportation operators evaluate a driver candidate, the first document most companies review is the Motor Vehicle Record (MVR).
It’s an important tool, but it does not always provide the complete picture of a driver’s safety history.
An MVR typically reflects convictions and reportable crashes. What it often does not include are the roadside inspections, warnings, and violations that may occur during enforcement inspections.
For that information, the industry has another tool: the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP).
Recent legislation introduced in Congress has brought renewed attention to how motor carriers use that program.
What the PSP Program Shows
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) launched the Pre-Employment Screening Program to provide motor carriers with access to driver safety information during the hiring process.
A PSP report includes:
- Five years of crash history
- Three years of roadside inspection history
These records come from the FMCSA Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) database and are available electronically to carriers with the driver’s written consent.
The records provide information about a driver’s involvement in crashes as well as inspection results and violations recorded during roadside inspections.
Safety Findings Related to PSP Use
According to a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration study, carriers that used PSP experienced measurable differences in safety outcomes.
The study found that carriers using PSP saw:
- 8 percent fewer crashes
- 17 percent fewer out-of-service incidents
FMCSA estimated that PSP users prevented approximately:
- 3,600 out-of-service events
- 863 commercial motor vehicle crashes
The study compared carriers who used PSP regularly with a control group of carriers who did not use the program.
Legislation Introduced in Congress
On January 29, 2026, Representatives Tracey Mann (R-Kansas) and Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) introduced the Motor Carrier Safety Screening Modernization Act.
According to the sponsors, the legislation would improve motor carrier safety by expanding access to FMCSA’s voluntary safety data screening program and modernizing the process for challenging inaccurate data on driver records.
One key provision of the bill would allow motor carriers to access PSP data for both prospective and current drivers.
Under current law, carriers can access PSP reports during the hiring process but cannot access updated PSP information after a driver has been hired.
Supporters of the legislation say expanded access would allow carriers to identify safety issues earlier and provide additional driver training when necessary.
Versions of the legislation have been introduced in previous congressional sessions. In 2023, a similar bill advanced through the House Transportation Committee but did not receive a vote on the House floor.
Proposed Changes to the DataQs Process
The legislation also addresses the FMCSA DataQs system, which allows drivers and carriers to challenge federal and state safety data that they believe is incomplete or incorrect.
Under the current process, challenges may be reviewed by the same agency or personnel that issued the violation.
The proposed legislation would require that challenges be reviewed by someone other than the original issuing officer, creating a more independent review process.
Another objective of the bill is to create greater consistency in how DataQs challenges are handled. Currently, states have considerable discretion in how they review requests for data corrections, leading to different outcomes across jurisdictions.
The bill would also require that violations under appeal be clearly marked as “under review” in federal databases while the challenge is pending.Context Around Crash Data
PSP records now include “not preventable” crash determinations when a crash has been reviewed through FMCSA’s Crash Preventability Determination Program.
A crash preventability determination does not assign legal fault or liability for a crash.
The absence of a “not preventable” determination does not indicate that a crash was preventable.
A Leadership Perspective
Programs like PSP ultimately raise a leadership question:
Are we using the available information to make the best safety decisions possible?
Hiring drivers will always involve judgment.
But tools like PSP provide an additional layer of insight that can help operators identify risk before it becomes an incident.
PSP is not a replacement for interviews, reference checks, road tests, or other hiring practices. However, it can provide additional safety data that may assist operators when evaluating driver candidates.
Safety Culture Begins Before the First Mile
In transportation operations, safety culture rarely begins with policies.
It begins with who you hire and how carefully you evaluate risk before the first mile is driven.
When companies consistently review safety histories and use available tools responsibly, they reinforce a message across the organization: safety matters, standards matter, and the decisions made during hiring may be some of the most important safety decisions a company ever makes.
In transportation operations, safety culture isn’t built solely through policies or compliance programs. It’s built through decisions — especially the decisions leaders make about hiring, coaching, and accountability. Tools like PSP simply give operators better information to make those decisions.
Final Thought
The Pre-Employment Screening Program provides motor carriers with access to crash and inspection history information from federal safety databases.
The legislation introduced in Congress seeks to expand how that information can be used and to update the process for correcting inaccurate data.
If enacted, the changes would affect how carriers access safety data and how drivers and carriers challenge errors in federal safety records.
For operators who may not currently use PSP as part of their hiring process, understanding the information available through the program may help inform more informed decisions when evaluating driver candidates.
Brian Dickson is the owner of Bus Business Consultants and author of Ground Transportation Insights on Substack. Drawing on leadership roles in motorcoach operations and Disney’s Guest Transportation, he helps operators improve performance, culture, and growth—Bus Business Consultants: Driving Performance, Culture, & Growth in Ground Transportation.
This article was originally published on March 18, 2026 at Ground Transportation Insights.
The views expressed are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the American Bus Association.
- Understanding the FMCSA’s Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP)
- Contract Language Isn’t a Problem… Until It Is
- Courtesy Isn’t Optional: A Reminder About Service, Perspective, and Grace
- We Eat First with Our Eyes — And Ride the Same Way
- If You Didn’t Attend ABA Marketplace This Year, Here’s What You Missed
