Safety ratings result from an on-site compliance review examining the carrier's records and operations. Ratings are satisfactory, conditional, or unsatisfactory, and an unsatisfactory rating generally requires the carrier to cease interstate operations.
Many carriers have never been reviewed and therefore carry no rating.
Alternative Names:
Carrier Safety Rating, Compliance Review Rating
Why it Matters?
A conditional or unsatisfactory rating is far more damaging than BASIC scores because it reflects a formal government determination following an actual inspection rather than a statistical percentile. Where a carrier operated with a conditional rating addressing the same deficiency implicated in the crash, the evidence supports both notice and punitive theories. The absence of any rating is neutral and should be explained as such, since juries may assume it means something adverse.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What are the possible safety ratings?
What does it mean if a carrier has no rating?
