Should the carrier have checked the driver’s PSP crash and inspection history?

· 3 min read

A motor carrier is expected to investigate a driver’s safety background before putting him on the road, and the Pre-Employment Screening Program, or PSP, is one tool that makes a driver’s federal crash and roadside-inspection history available. When a carrier could have learned of a dangerous record and did not look, that failure can support a negligence claim in Georgia.

What the PSP shows and why screening matters

The PSP is a federal program that lets carriers access a driver’s recent crash and roadside-inspection history from the federal safety database as part of the hiring process. It can reveal prior crashes, violations found during inspections, out-of-service orders, and patterns of unsafe conduct. While using the PSP is a voluntary screening tool rather than the sole mandated check, federal rules independently require carriers to investigate an applicant’s driving history and prior employment and to build a driver qualification file.

The point of these duties is to keep carriers from hiring drivers whose records foreshadow danger. A company that runs the available checks and documents them shows diligence. A company that ignores readily available history takes on the risk of having put an unfit driver behind the wheel.

How a failure to check bears on liability

In Georgia, an employer’s duty to use reasonable care in hiring underlies negligent-hiring and negligent-retention claims. A carrier’s failure to review a driver’s accessible crash and inspection history can support those theories when the record contained warning signs relevant to the crash:

  • A prior pattern of the same violation that caused the wreck.
  • Earlier crashes suggesting a recurring danger.
  • Inspection violations showing disregard for safety rules.

The negligence is in not learning what reasonable screening would have revealed, then entrusting the truck to a driver whose history predicted the harm. As with other direct claims, this can also bear on punitive damages where the carrier’s indifference was severe.

Connecting the record to the crash

A screening failure matters only if the overlooked history was relevant and the driver’s unfitness contributed to the collision. The driver qualification file, the carrier’s documented background checks, the available PSP and inspection records, and the driver’s prior crash history establish both what the carrier could have known and whether it bore on the wreck.

The bottom line

A Georgia carrier generally should investigate a driver’s crash and inspection history, and tools like the PSP make that history accessible. Failing to check, when reasonable screening would have surfaced a record relevant to the crash, can support negligent-hiring or retention claims, with the strength of the claim turning on how closely the overlooked history matched the harm that followed.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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