It has been a huge flaw in CSA from the beginning of the program: a ticket gets issued, reported to FMCSA, later dismissed in court, but continues to impact the CSA BASIC. Beginning August 23, 2014, that will finally change. As of that date, the MCMIS will begin to reflect the results of citations related to roadside inspection violations which are adjudicated in the court system. The adjudicated results of a citation; be it a dismissal of the citation, a plea to a lesser charge or conviction, the final result, not the initial claim, will soon be what is actually recorded.

This change will give carriers and drivers a practical reason to challenge unfounded traffic citations and set the record straight. While the opportunity to challenge citations has always existed, it was generally considered a waste of time because FMCSA did not take a court’s dismissal of a citation or a finding of not guilty into consideration. The change is only relevant when a citation is issued for one or more violations recorded during a roadside inspection. If only a violation is recorded, and no citation is issued, drivers and carriers should use the DataQs system, just as before, to contest the validity of the violation.