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49 CFR 391.25: Annual review of a driver's record

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49 CFR 391.25: Annual review of a driver's record
Law read on2026-11-06[1]

49 CFR 391.25 addresses a specific recurring task: obtaining and reviewing the driving records of drivers a motor carrier employs. Subject to the exceptions in subpart G, 49 CFR 391.25(a) requires an inquiry at least once every 12 months for a record covering at least the preceding 12 months. Subject to the exceptions in subpart G, 49 CFR 391.25(b) requires each motor carrier, at least once every 12 months, to review each employed driver's motor vehicle record to determine whether the driver meets minimum requirements for safe driving or is disqualified under 49 CFR 391.15.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

The documentation requirements in 49 CFR 391.25(c) connect those activities to the driver's qualification file. The saved companion provisions address different parts of that framework: 49 CFR 390.3T supplies general applicability, 49 CFR 390.5T supplies definitions, 49 CFR 391.2 supplies general exceptions, 49 CFR 391.51 addresses qualification files and retention, and 49 CFR 391.63 addresses multiple-employer drivers. The inquiry and review duties in 49 CFR 391.25(a) and (b) must therefore be read with their stated qualifications.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Contents

What the cited provisions say

Under 49 CFR 391.25(a), subject to subpart G, the carrier must direct its inquiry to each driver's licensing authority where the driver held a commercial motor vehicle operator's license or permit during the covered period. Under 49 CFR 391.25(b)(1), the review must consider any evidence of violations of applicable Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in the subchapter or Hazardous Materials Regulations.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Under 49 CFR 391.25(b)(2), the carrier must consider the driver's accident record and evidence of motor vehicle operating-law violations. Section 391.25(b)(2) requires great weight for violations indicating disregard for public safety, with speeding, reckless driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs given as examples. Section 391.25(c)(1) requires the obtained record in the qualification file; section 391.25(c)(2) requires a review note identifying the reviewer and review date. Section 391.25(b) references disqualification under section 391.15, whose substantive standards are outside the saved text.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Who and what the provisions cover

Section 390.3T(a)(1) generally applies the subchapter to employers, employees, and commercial motor vehicles transporting property or passengers in interstate commerce, subject to section 390.3T(f). Section 390.5T defines a driver as anyone operating a commercial motor vehicle and includes both for-hire and private carriers within motor carrier, together with the listed representatives and responsible employees.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Under section 390.5T, a commercial motor vehicle is self-propelled or towed, used on a highway in interstate commerce to transport passengers or property, and meets a listed criterion: the greater applicable weight or weight rating is 4,536 kg (10,001 pounds) or more; it is designed or used for more than 8 passengers including the driver for compensation; it is designed or used for more than 15 including the driver without compensation; or it transports designated hazardous material in a quantity requiring placarding. Section 390.5T defines motor vehicle record as a report of driving status and history generated from the driver's record, with State-licensed drivers' records subject to the cited privacy statute.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Conditions and exceptions

Unless otherwise specifically provided, section 390.3T(f)(1) through (5) excludes defined school bus operations, subject to its listed regulatory carveouts; transportation by the listed governmental entities; occasional personal-property transportation by individuals without compensation or commercial furtherance; transportation of human corpses or sick and injured persons; and fire trucks or rescue vehicles in emergency and related operations.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Section 390.3T(f)(6) excludes vehicles designed or used for 9 to 15 passengers including the driver, without direct compensation, only if they do not otherwise meet the commercial motor vehicle definition; its listed regulatory obligations remain. Section 390.3T(f)(7) conditionally exempts drivers of commercial motor vehicles used primarily for propane winter heating fuel transportation or vehicles responding to pipeline emergencies when the regulations would prevent response to an emergency condition requiring immediate response as defined in section 390.5T.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Under 49 CFR 391.2(a), part 391, except sections 391.15(e) and (f), does not apply to a driver of a commercial motor vehicle controlled and operated by a person engaged in custom-harvesting operations when it transports farm machinery or supplies to or from a farm for those operations, or custom-harvested crops to storage or market; section 391.2(b) provides the same exemption for a driver operating a commercial motor vehicle controlled and operated by a beekeeper engaged in seasonal transportation of bees. Section 391.2(a) requires machinery or supplies transportation to or from a farm for custom harvesting, or custom-harvested crops transportation to storage or market. Section 391.2(c) exempts farm vehicle drivers other than articulated commercial motor vehicle drivers, retaining those same provisions. Section 391.2(d) limits its covered-farm-vehicle exception to physical qualifications and examinations; section 391.2(e) exempts drivers of pipeline welding trucks as defined in its unsaved cross-reference.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

For a person employed as a multiple-employer driver under its referenced definition, section 391.63(a) excuses the annual inquiry and review, employment application, and specified investigations and inquiries while retaining other requirements. Before a motor carrier permits that multiple-employer driver to drive a commercial motor vehicle, 49 CFR 391.63(b) requires it to obtain the driver's name, social security number, and commercial motor vehicle operator's license identification number, type, and issuing licensing authority, and to maintain that information for three years after the driver's employment ceases.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Section 391.51(a) requires a qualification file for each employed driver and permits combining it with the personnel file. Sections 391.51(b)(4) and (5) expressly include the annual record and review note. Section 391.51(c) generally requires retention during employment and for three years thereafter, subject to paragraph (d). Sections 391.51(d)(1) and (2) permit removal of the annual record and review note three years after execution. These retention provisions in section 391.51 address the records produced by the inquiry and review rather than replacing the recurring duties in section 391.25.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Source date and limits

This entry uses the selected primary-law units saved on 2026-11-06 from the eCFR materials attributed to the National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register. That is the saved-source date, not a representation that the law was checked today. The statute-only scope here consists of the supplied federal regulatory text; judicial interpretations and case-specific applications are outside the entry.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Section 391.25's saved source note records publication and amendment citations, but this entry does not treat those citations as independently supplied effective-date rules. Section 391.63(a) references a multiple-employer-driver definition that was not supplied, and section 391.2(c) references limited articulated-farm-vehicle exemptions whose text was not supplied. Those cross-references are identified without reconstructing their contents. The saved materials provide no basis here for conclusions about fault, liability, insurance coverage, damages, or litigation deadlines. This explanation of annual driving-record review is general reference information and does not provide legal advice.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

On related publications

Law checked on against the primary sources cited below. Statutes and rules change; read the current official text before relying on a deadline or rule.

References

  1. abcdefghijklmn "49 CFR 390.3T, General applicability". National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register (eCFR). Official source. Checked . Source record
  2. abcdefghijklm "49 CFR 390.5T, Definitions". National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register (eCFR). Official source. Checked . Source record
  3. abcdefghijklm "49 CFR 391.2, General exceptions". National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register (eCFR). Official source. Checked . Source record
  4. abcdefghijklm "49 CFR 391.25, Annual inquiry and review of driving record". National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register (eCFR). Official source. Checked . Source record
  5. abcdefghijklm "49 CFR 391.51, General requirements for driver qualification files". National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register (eCFR). Official source. Checked . Source record
  6. abcdefghijklm "49 CFR 391.63, Multiple-employer drivers". National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register (eCFR). Official source. Checked . Source record