The accident register: the record auditors ask for by name
49 CFR 390.15 · Updated September 2026
Somewhere in every DOT audit comes the question: "Can I see your accident register?" Small fleets freeze here, because most have never heard of it — and because the honest answer is often "we haven't had any accidents." Good news: that answer is fine. Not having the register is the problem. A clean fleet's register is one page that says so, and you can make it today in five minutes.
What counts as a "recordable" accident
The register doesn't list every scrape and door ding. An accident belongs on it when it involves a commercial motor vehicle on a public road and results in any of: a fatality; an injury treated away from the scene (someone goes to the doctor or hospital); or a vehicle towed away disabled. Parking-lot taps and minor damage where everyone drives away don't go on the register — though your insurance company may still want to hear about them, which is a separate matter.
What each entry needs
- Date of the accident, and the city or town (and state) where it happened.
- Driver's name.
- Number of injuries and number of fatalities.
- Whether hazardous materials (other than fuel from the vehicles' own tanks) were released.
- Attach copies of any accident reports from police or that you filed with a state — they live with the register.
The rules around it
- Keep each entry for 3 years from the date of the accident.
- Keep the register even when it's empty. The regulation requires carriers to maintain the register; a dated page reading "No recordable accidents to date" answers the auditor's question in one look instead of an awkward silence.
- Update it promptly after any recordable accident — it's also the record DOT uses if they investigate your crash history later.
The register is the easiest item on the new-entrant audit checklist to get right, and one of the most commonly missing. Make the page, date it, and file it with your company records next to your driver files.
General information, not legal advice. State reporting requirements for specific crashes are separate and vary.