Carriers commonly conduct internal preventability reviews after crashes, and FMCSA operates a Crash Preventability Determination Program allowing carriers to request review of eligible crash types for removal from their safety measurement data.
Internal standards often follow National Safety Council criteria.
Alternative Names:
Preventable Crash Determination, Crash Preventability
Why it Matters?
Internal preventability determinations are discoverable and can be devastating, since a carrier's own finding that its driver could have avoided the crash is an admission by a party opponent. Carriers face a genuine tension: rigorous safety review improves operations but creates litigation exposure. Structuring reviews to focus on corrective action rather than fault conclusions, and understanding whether the jurisdiction protects self-critical analysis, are the available responses.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Are internal preventability determinations discoverable?
What is the FMCSA preventability program?





