The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act defines a preventable accident (on the part of the motor carrier) as an accident involving a commercial motor vehicle and that could have been prevented if not for an action, or lack of action, on the part of the carrier or driver. An avoidable accident is one in which the driver “did not take all reasonable precautions to avoid it. Sometimes a small fender bender may be the fault of another driver, but both drivers might recognize it as preventable. If there was something reasonable that the holder of a commercial driver's license did not do to prevent it, the CSA may consider that the driver contributed to a preventable accident.
If a driver, for example, parks a vehicle in a way that makes it impossible for a moving vehicle to avoid crashing into it, it would be considered avoidable. In the trucking industry, a “preventable accident” is a crash or collision in which a truck driver or carrier did not act in the manner reasonably expected to prevent it. Speeding, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving while intoxicated are obvious when it comes to preventable accidents.
