The FMCSA publishes citation data, the Fleet-Connection real-time database keeps track of it, and the resulting picture for fleet managers is informative if not always flattering. We pulled May 2024 through February 2026, roughly 6.2 million violations across 61 categories, and sliced it by fleet size.

If you manage trucks for a living, here’s what the numbers say about how your operation compares to the rest of the industry.

Where you sit depends a lot on your fleet size

Fleets of 1 to 10 trucks are absorbing the lion’s share of citations across nearly every major category. They account for 74% of Inspection Report problems, 73% of False Logs, 71% of Windshield and glass issues, and 69% of Emergency Equipment citations. The pattern is remarkably consistent.

Mid-size operators (11 to 100 trucks) generally land in the 20% to 30% range. Large fleets with 100 or more trucks come in last, peaking at 23% of Overweight citations and dropping to about 7% on False Logs and Inspection Reports.

This is not because large fleets have discovered enlightenment. They have compliance staff, training programs, dash cams, telematics, and a lawyer on retainer. If you’re running a smaller operation, you’re competing with companies that have entire departments dedicated to keeping their drivers and equipment within the lines. That doesn’t mean you can’t keep up. It means the cost of skipping a brake inspection or letting a logbook audit slide is much higher for you than for them, because you’re already starting from behind.

If your fleet has 50 trucks or fewer, this should sharpen your attention. The risk is not that you’re somehow worse at trucking. It’s that the system as a whole expects more compliance overhead than your operation is set up to provide. Small and mid-size fleets are where the help is most needed, and right now, most of you are providing that help to yourselves.

What’s getting worse

Comparing the most recent six months of data to the earliest months on file, here are the categories trending the wrong direction:

• Brakes, up 24%
• Suspension, up 22%
• False Log, up 21%
• Securement Device, up 21%
• Lighting, up 16%
• Brakes (other sub-categories), up 14%

If you’ve been deferring suspension work or letting your driver inspection process get sloppy, the industry-wide trend says you have plenty of company. It also says that company is getting cited more often. Brakes in particular are climbing in a way that’s hard to explain away. They are not optional equipment. They have, historically, been considered fairly important.

What’s mysteriously getting better

Some of the steepest declines look almost too good to be real. Medical Certificate violations are down 76%. Hours of Service violations are down 49%. Phone Call violations are down 30%.

What to do with this

If you manage a small or mid-size fleet, point your limited attention at where the rising risk actually is: brakes, suspension, securement, and logs. Those are the categories where your peers are slipping the most, and where a single bad inspection can cost you days of revenue.

If you manage a large fleet, you’re winning on most metrics, but Overweight citations and Phone Call violations are still over-indexed in your group. Don’t let the comfortable averages fool you.

The Fleet-Connection database is going to keep tracking all of it. Use the head start.

Source: Fleet-Connection real-time database, May 2024 to February 2026.