Guide
What a carrier accident register is
The three-year log 49 CFR 390.15 requires, what it contains, and why it is usually still there when the logs are gone.
A required log of qualifying accidents
49 CFR 390.15(b) requires a motor carrier to keep an accident register for three years after the date of each accident. The register lists the date, city or town and state, driver name, number of injuries and fatalities, and whether hazardous materials were released (other than fuel from the tanks). The carrier must also keep copies of all accident reports required by other agencies.
"Accident" for this rule is a defined term. It generally means an occurrence involving a commercial motor vehicle on a public road that results in a fatality, an injury treated away from the scene, or a vehicle towed from the scene because of disabling damage. Parking-lot taps that do not meet that threshold may never appear.
Why this row is the reliable one
Three years is long enough that the register is usually still there when you ask. Carriers expect compliance reviewers to ask for it. That does not make it complete, and it does not make it a finding of fault. It is a list the carrier made about events that met the federal definition.
Compare the register to the crash-involvement counts on the federal record. They will not always match. Different reporting pipelines, different time windows, and DataQs reviews all create gaps. The register is still worth having because it names the driver and the location in the carrier's own file.
Ask for the register and the reports behind it
The preservation letter should ask for the accident-register entry for this crash and every accompanying report the carrier kept. Then pull the carrier record so you are writing the legal entity on file. The register will not tell you who was responsible. It will tell you whether the carrier logged the event at all.
The rule cited on this page
49 CFR 390.15(b), current eCFR.