Motor Carrier Incident Response Plan Checklist

Dispatcher answers the inbound driver call and confirms whether the driver and any other parties are physically safe before anything else. Ask: location (mile marker, cross street, exit), is the driver injured, are any other parties injured, is the equipment blocking traffic. Keep the driver on the line until 911 is engaged if there are injuries.

FMCSA-recordable accidents (fatality, injury requiring transport, or any vehicle towed from scene) drive the heaviest workflow; cargo claims, breakdowns, and hazmat releases each branch differently. Classify before notifications go out so the right downstream steps fire.

Page the safety director, the operations manager, and the after-hours claims line. For serious incidents, loop in the carrier's insurance rapid-response number (Great West, Sentry, Northland, Progressive Commercial — whichever carries the auto liability policy) within the first hour to lock in defense counsel.

Walk the driver through 49 CFR 392.22 warning device placement: triangles at 10 ft, 100 ft, and 200 ft on a two-lane road; adjust for divided highway and hills/curves. Driver stays out of active travel lanes — no exceptions.

Every tractor should carry a glove-box accident packet with witness cards, a disposable camera or photo checklist, and the insurance card. Dispatcher stays on the line and walks through it — drivers in shock skip steps. Do not let the driver admit fault or speculate on cause to anyone except the responding officer.

Photos: all vehicles from four sides, skid marks, debris field, traffic control devices, road conditions, weather, license plates, VINs. Pull dashcam clips (Samsara, Motive, Lytx) and lock them against the 30-day overwrite cycle before they roll off.

Names, phone numbers, and a one-sentence statement from anyone at the scene who saw the event. Witnesses disappear within 24 hours; if the driver doesn't get the card filled out at the scene, defense counsel is working blind six months later.

Pull the driver's prior seven days of RODS plus the current day from the ELD platform and flag the unit so logs are not auto-edited. Plaintiff counsel will subpoena these; carrier-side edits made after the fact destroy credibility.

49 CFR 382.303 requires post-accident testing when there is a fatality, or when the driver receives a citation and there was a bodily injury requiring medical treatment away from the scene or a vehicle towed from the scene. Alcohol test within 8 hours, drug test within 32 hours. Dispatch the driver to the nearest TPA collection site (Quest, LabCorp, USA Mobile Drug Testing) and document the dispatch time.

For hazmat releases meeting 49 CFR 171.15 reporting criteria (death, injury requiring hospitalization, evacuation, transportation closure, or specified release thresholds), call the NRC at 800-424-8802 immediately and CHEMTREC at 800-424-9300 for response support. Written 5800.1 report follows within 30 days.

Local police report is required before the cargo insurer will open a claim. Also post the theft to CargoNet and report to the FreightWatch / Verisk industry alert network — most recoveries happen in the first 48 hours.

49 CFR 390.15 requires the carrier to maintain an Accident Register for three years on every DOT-recordable accident: date, city/state, driver, injuries, fatalities, hazmat release. This is one of the first documents FMCSA pulls on a Compliance Review — missing entries flag a Driver Fitness BASIC issue.

Use the carrier's preferred-vendor list (FleetNet, NationaLease, or a contracted heavy-duty wrecker for the lane). Confirm towing rate and storage rate before authorizing — non-consensual tow bills run $5K-$15K and storage adds up fast.

Photograph the load before any transfer. Reefer loads — pull download from the reefer unit to prove set point. Notify the shipper and consignee; salvage decisions belong to the cargo owner, not the carrier. Do not authorize destruction without written consent.

For loads continuing to consignee, dispatch a recovery tractor or arrange a cross-dock through a partner terminal. Communicate revised ETA to the consignee and broker; detention starts ticking again at the redelivery appointment.

Submit the First Notice of Loss to auto liability and cargo carriers separately. Include driver statement, police report number, scene photos, and ELD export. Do not let the driver give a recorded statement to the other party's insurer without defense counsel.

Written notification within 24 hours of any cargo loss or damage protects Carmack Amendment defenses. Include the load number, BOL, nature of damage, and contact for the cargo claims adjuster. Keep tone factual — no admissions, no speculation on cause.

Under 49 CFR 370, the carrier has 30 days to acknowledge a written cargo claim and 120 days to pay, decline, or report status. The shipper has 9 months from delivery to file the claim and 2 years to file suit. Track every cargo claim against these dates in the TMS.

Safety director sits with the driver — never on the same day as the accident; emotions are too high. Walk through the sequence using the ELD timeline, dashcam, and driver's written statement. Look for preventable-vs-non-preventable per the National Safety Council criteria.

Report the positive or refusal to the FMCSA Clearinghouse within three business days per 49 CFR 382.705. Driver is immediately prohibited from safety-sensitive function until SAP evaluation, treatment, return-to-duty test, and follow-up testing plan are complete.

Document remedial training in the driver's qualification file — Smith System, CarriersEdge, or J.J. Keller modules targeted at the root cause (following distance, lane change, backing, fatigue). Training without documentation does not count on a CSA review.

Final review with operations, safety, and maintenance. Capture root cause, corrective action, policy updates, and any SOP changes (route, equipment spec, hiring criteria). File the closeout memo with the Accident Register entry so the trail is intact for the next FMCSA audit.