An inspection on the wrong driver: what DataQs reviews

Prepare your request: evidence checklist

• Identify the inspection report number, State and date, and the exact field or violation you dispute.
• Identify the incorrect driver name or driver field, the driver who was involved, and the exact correction requested.
• Suggested supporting records: the inspection report, the relevant driver/licensing record and event-specific dispatch or duty records that connect the correct driver to this inspection. These are examples of relevant evidence, not a universal official document list; the analyst may ask for more (§§4.13, 6.13, pp. 28, 59–60).

RoadsideProof's upload checklist is an intake condition for its optional automated completeness check. An inspection report that lets the software start is not proof that an RDR should be granted. The reviewing agency decides whether the evidence supports the correction. A record-error request does not require a court disposition merely because it is an RDR.

Next: submit the evidence with your own DataQs request, then track it and answer requests for more information. For State requests, use the deadlines guide to check the applicable review stage and response window.

• DataQs deadlines and review stages

The request type

FMCSA's DataQs Analyst Guide: "A motor carrier or driver filer submits an RDR to the DataQs website, along with supporting documentation, asserting that driver information collected by a State MCSAP inspector contained erroneous data." (§6.13, p. 59).

What the analyst checks first

"The DataQs analyst should review the original State report (crash or inspection) and SAFETYNET to verify the carrier assigned to the vehicle record in question. Then, the analyst should confirm the identity of the filer, if that confirmation would be instrumental in resolving the RDR." (p. 59).

Your documents and the inspector

"Second, review all documentation (if any) submitted by the filer to justify his/her request to modify the inspection report in MCMIS. Refer to the USDOT's 37-Point Level I Truck Safety Inspection Checklist for guidance on information that is required to be collected during an inspection. Consider contacting the State MCSAP inspector to discuss the RDR." (pp. 59–60).

"If, after performing this background research, the DataQs analyst concludes that additional information is required, contact the filer to request specific information." (p. 60).

The burden of proof

The revised State DataQs process applies to requests submitted on or after September 18, 2026. It is not retroactive and does not establish deadlines for Federal reviews. The requestor bears the burden of proof at all three stages. A request to remove or modify information must explain the factual or legal basis for why it is incorrect or incomplete, with necessary supporting documents (91 FR 20567).

If the State agrees

"If the DataQs analyst concludes that certain information about the commercial driver was incorrectly entered on the inspection report, the analyst should take the steps necessary (according to his/her State's protocol) to update the inspection file. Corrections to MCMIS data should be uploaded within 7 days from the date that the State concluded an error occurred. The DataQs analyst should then notify the motor carrier and other involved participants via the DataQs website that this change was made." (p. 60).

How long a review can be requested

The revised State DataQs process applies to requests submitted on or after September 18, 2026. It is not retroactive and does not establish deadlines for Federal reviews. The 2026 notice requires States to accept and conduct a good-faith review of inspection RDRs submitted within 3 years of the inspection and crash RDRs within 5 years of the crash (91 FR 20566).

How RoadsideProof handles this category

For this category the paid check looks for two documents: the inspection report, and the driver record that contradicts the entry. The check is about whether the first filing is complete.

We do not file for you. You file from your own account and you sign it, and that signature carries 18 U.S.C. 1001.

We do not promise an outcome. The burden of proof is on the filer. The revised State DataQs process applies to requests submitted on or after September 18, 2026. It is not retroactive and does not establish deadlines for Federal reviews. Its stages are Initial Review, Reconsideration, and Final Review. FMCSA considers the State's RDR decision final after Final Review is completed; this is separate from a court's disposition of a citation.

Sources

FMCSA, DataQs Analyst Guide: Best Practices for Federal and State Agency Users, 2nd edition, December 2014, section 6.13, as hosted on the DataQs site and archived on 2026-05-26. Page numbers are the guide's own. Burden of proof: Federal Register, 91 FR 20567, FR Doc. 2026-07429.