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This driver scorecard template gives each driver a score out of 100 each month or quarter, built in Excel from seven measures: clean roadside inspections, out-of-service violations, hours-of-service violations, unsafe-driving violations, preventable crashes, DVIR completion and safety-meeting attendance. Six of the seven tie to a federal rule or FMCSA data; meeting attendance is fleet policy. Copy the table, paste the formulas, and adjust the weights.
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What the scorecard measures, and why
A driver scorecard is an internal tool. It is not a CSA score. FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS) ranks carriers, not individual drivers, by percentile in each of seven categories called BASICs, using "data from roadside inspections and crash reports from the last two years, and data from investigations" (FMCSA CSA: Measure). A driver scorecard borrows the same raw events so each driver can see their part.
| Measure | Points | Regulation or source it ties to |
|---|---|---|
| Clean roadside inspections | 20 | Roadside inspection data feeds the SMS (CSA: Measure) |
| Out-of-service (OOS) violations | 15 | CVSA Out-of-Service Criteria, updated each April 1 |
| Hours-of-service (HOS) violations | 15 | 49 CFR 395.3; HOS Compliance BASIC |
| Unsafe-driving violations | 15 | 49 CFR 392; Unsafe Driving BASIC |
| Preventable DOT-recordable crashes | 20 | "Accident" in 49 CFR 390.5; Crash Indicator BASIC |
| DVIR completion | 10 | 49 CFR 396.11 and 396.13; Vehicle Maintenance BASIC |
| Safety-meeting attendance | 5 | Fleet policy |
| Total | 100 |
The weights lean on crashes, inspections and the three BASICs FMCSA says "have the strongest associations to crash risk": Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and HOS Compliance (SMS Methodology v3.21, p. 2-8). Change them to match your fleet's risks.
The template
Set up one row per driver per period. Columns A to N hold the inputs; O to V hold the formulas.
| Col | Header | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| A | Driver | Name or driver ID |
| B | Period | e.g. 2027-Q1 |
| C | Miles | Miles driven in the period |
| D | Inspections | Roadside inspections in the period |
| E | Clean inspections | Inspections with no violations |
| F | OOS violations | Driver or vehicle OOS orders attributed to the driver |
| G | HOS violations | From roadside reports and your own log audits |
| H | Unsafe-driving violations | Speeding, phone use, lane changes and similar, from roadside reports |
| I | Preventable crashes | DOT-recordable crashes your review found preventable |
| J | DVIRs due | Days worked where a DVIR was required by law or by your fleet's daily-report policy |
| K | DVIRs completed | DVIRs submitted on time |
| L | Defects reported | Count only; this is not penalized |
| M | Safety meetings held | Meetings the driver was scheduled for |
| N | Safety meetings attended | Meetings attended |
Row 2 formulas (copy down):
| Col | Header | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| O | Inspection pts (20) | =IF(D2=0,20,ROUND(20*E2/D2,1)) |
| P | OOS pts (15) | =MAX(0,15-7.5*F2) |
| Q | HOS pts (15) | =MAX(0,15-5*G2) |
| R | Unsafe-driving pts (15) | =MAX(0,15-5*H2) |
| S | Crash pts (20) | =IF(I2>0,0,20) |
| T | DVIR pts (10) | =IF(J2=0,10,ROUND(10*K2/J2,1)) |
| U | Meeting pts (5) | =IF(M2=0,5,ROUND(5*N2/M2,1)) |
| V | Total score | =SUM(O2:U2) |
| W | Band | =IF(V2>=90,"Gold",IF(V2>=75,"Silver",IF(V2>=60,"Bronze","Coach"))) |
To paste straight into Excel, copy this header row into cell A1:
Driver Period Miles Inspections Clean inspections OOS violations HOS violations Unsafe-driving violations Preventable crashes DVIRs due DVIRs completed Defects reported Safety meetings held Safety meetings attended Inspection pts OOS pts HOS pts Unsafe-driving pts Crash pts DVIR pts Meeting pts Total score Band
Worked example (a made-up driver, not real data): 3 inspections, 3 clean; no OOS, HOS or unsafe-driving violations; no crashes; 58 of 60 DVIRs on time; 2 of 3 meetings. Score: 20 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 20 + 9.7 + 3.3 = 98, band Gold.
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How to fill it in
- Pull roadside data monthly. Use the inspection reports your drivers bring back and the carrier view of your SMS data. FMCSA updates SMS once a month.
- Count violations, not tickets. Violations on an inspection report count in the SMS "regardless of whether a State officer also issues a citation" (CSA: Measure). Score them the same way.
- Decide preventability before you score crashes. Use your own review policy, and record who decided. A DOT-recordable accident under 390.5 involves a fatality, an injury treated away from the scene, or a vehicle towed for disabling damage.
- Use DVIR completion, not defect counts. Under 396.11 a driver reports defects found, and no report is required when there are none. Rewarding "zero defects" would reward silence. Column L is there to track, never to subtract.
- Normalize by miles if your drivers' miles differ a lot. Add a column for events per 100,000 miles and compare drivers within similar routes.
- Share the score with the driver every period, with the line items, before it affects any reward.
Oil and gas fleets: oilfield add-on rows
Oilfield fleets have HOS provisions other fleets don't, and customers may add their own site rules. Add these columns for an oilfield driver scorecard and take their points from the meeting and DVIR rows.
| Add-on column | What to check | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Well-site waiting time logged correctly | For specially trained drivers of specially built well-servicing vehicles, waiting time at the well site is logged off duty with a remark or a separate waiting-time line | 49 CFR 395.1(d)(2) |
| 24-hour restart used correctly | Drivers of vehicles used only for oilfield equipment or field servicing may end an 8-day period with 24 or more hours off | 395.1(d)(1) |
| Short-haul use checked | Well-servicing drivers using the waiting-time rule can't also use the 150 air-mile short-haul exception | 395.1(d)(2) |
| Customer site rules met | e.g. check-ins or site speed limits your customer requires | Fleet or customer policy |
Mistakes that make scorecards backfire
- Rewarding speed. FMCSA's guidance for the Unsafe Driving BASIC says: "Do not use on-time delivery incentives, which could encourage speeding" (FMCSA Safety Management Cycle). Keep on-time percentage off a safety scorecard. FMCSA's guidance is a recommendation, not a requirement, and does not endorse any vendor.
- Punishing honest reporting. See step 4.
- Scoring what drivers can't see. If a driver can't check the inputs, they won't trust the total.
- A score with no consequence. A scorecard nobody acts on stops being filled in.
For how to read and present scorecards across a whole fleet, see our driver scorecard guide. For the carrier-level side, see how to improve your CSA score.
About Off Duty Not Driving Rewards
A scorecard tells drivers where they stand. Off Duty Not Driving Rewards is a rewards program for trucking fleets. Contact our team to learn more.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm requirements against the current regulation text and with your compliance counsel.
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