How Speeding Violations Affect Your CSA Score (and What a Speed Cap Changes)

Speeding violations land in the Unsafe Driving BASIC of FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS). The worst ones, 15 mph or more over the limit and speeding in a work zone, carry the top severity weight of 10, and a violation from the last six months counts three times. A speed cap cannot remove every speeding violation, but it can take the highest-weight ones off the table on the roads where your trucks spend most of their miles.

Which part of the CSA score do speeding violations count in?

The Unsafe Driving BASIC. FMCSA’s SMS methodology (version 3.21, document revised June 2026) defines it as operation of commercial motor vehicles in a dangerous or careless manner, with speeding, reckless driving, improper lane change, texting and not wearing a seat belt as examples.

The measure is built from violations recorded at roadside inspections in the past 24 months. FMCSA notes that violations from an inspection that followed a traffic stop count whether or not the driver was given a ticket. Your Unsafe Driving percentile then decides whether you are flagged. The intervention thresholds are 65% for general carriers, 60% for hazardous materials carriers and 50% for passenger carriers.

How much does each speeding violation weigh?

FMCSA’s CSA help center lists the speeding severity weights on a scale of 1 to 10:

Violation	Severity weight
Speeding 6-10 mph over the limit	4
Speeding 11-14 mph over the limit	7
Speeding 15 mph or more over the limit	10
Speeding in a work or construction zone	10

Two more details from the methodology. Violations of 1 to 5 mph over the limit were removed from SMS, because speedometer rules only require accuracy within 5 mph. And a generic speeding violation recorded on or after January 1, 2011 has a weight of 1.

The weight is only the start. It is multiplied by a time weight: 3 for a violation in the past six months, 2 for six to 12 months, and 1 for 12 to 24 months. So a single violation weighing 10 adds 30 points to your measure in its first six months. The total severity weight for any one inspection is capped at 30 before the time weight is applied.

Is the CSA scoring system changing?

FMCSA has approved changes, but its own pages do not show them in use yet. In a November 20, 2024 Federal Register notice, FMCSA set out an updated methodology. BASICs become “compliance categories”, the 1 to 10 severity scale becomes 1 or 2, and more than 2,000 violation codes are grouped into about 100 violation groups.

For Unsafe Driving, the Prioritization Preview page says a set of violations in a group scores 2 if any of them is driver disqualifying (as defined in 49 CFR 383.51) and 1 otherwise. FMCSA’s foundational document marks speeding 15 mph or more over as CDL disqualifying, and the other speeding bands as not.

When we read that page on October 28, 2026, it said the updated system is “coming soon” and that carriers should keep using the current SMS website until it takes effect. Either way, the direction is the same: the most serious speeding stays the most heavily penalized.

What does a speed cap actually remove?

It removes the bands your trucks can no longer reach. SMS measures your speed against the posted limit, and a cap is a fixed number, so the result depends on the road.

Take a truck capped at 65 mph:

• On a road posted 55 mph or higher, it can never be 11 mph over. The weight-10 and weight-7 bands are out of reach. The most it can reach is 10 over on a 55, a weight of 4.
• On a road posted 50 mph, 65 is 15 over. The cap does not protect you there.
• In a work zone, the violation is weight 10 whatever the speed over. A cap set for the highway does nothing below it.

So a cap is strong on the long highway miles, where limits are 65 or more, and weak in the slow zones. That is why the second half of the answer is a policy, not just a device. Work zones, yards and school areas are where geofenced speed control matters, because it can apply a lower limit by place.

Why does speeding matter beyond the score?

The score is a proxy for risk. NHTSA’s Speeding: 2024 Data reports 11,288 deaths in speeding-related crashes in 2024, 29% of all 39,254 US traffic deaths. In that report 8% of large-truck drivers in fatal crashes were speeding, against 22% of passenger car drivers and 15% of light-truck drivers. Speeding was involved in 34% of fatal crashes in construction and maintenance zones, against 28% outside them.

Which speed limiter fits a CSA strategy?

A cap is set by the fleet, not by each driver on each trip. On trucks with a modern engine computer you can set a road speed limit in the ECM, covered in our guide to engine setting or aftermarket speed governor. On vans, pickups and older trucks, a sealed aftermarket limiter fills the gap: DBW for electronic throttles, SENT for newer vehicles with SENT sensors, and System 80 for older mechanical diesels. TrackSpeed adds GPS tracking in the same device. Any truck, van or pickup with an electronic (drive-by-wire) throttle takes the DBW unit, whatever the maker. No federal rule requires any of this, as we explain in the truck speed limiter law guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which CSA BASIC do speeding violations fall under?

Unsafe Driving. FMCSA defines it as operating a commercial motor vehicle in a dangerous or careless manner, and lists speeding as an example.

How many points is a speeding violation in CSA?

On FMCSA’s 1 to 10 scale: 4 for 6-10 mph over, 7 for 11-14 mph over, and 10 for 15 mph or more over or speeding in a work zone. Each is then multiplied by a time weight of 1 to 3.

How long does a speeding violation stay on my CSA score?

24 months. Violations count 3 times in the first six months, 2 times from six to 12 months, and 1 time from 12 to 24 months.

Do 1 to 5 mph over violations count toward CSA?

No. FMCSA removed them from SMS because speedometer regulations only require accuracy within 5 mph.

Can a speed limiter lower my CSA score?

It can keep trucks out of the highest-weight speeding bands on roads posted within 10 mph of the cap or higher, but it does not stop speeding in slower zones. We do not promise a score outcome.

How do US fleets buy AutoKontrol speed limiters?

Through Scorpion, our parent group’s US team. Start with the quote form, and fitting is agreed per job, by your own technicians or our engineers and partners.

Cap the speed, protect the score

A high-weight speeding violation costs more than the ticket: it sits in your SMS record for two years. Tell us what you run and how many vehicles, and we will match a limiter to each one and price it. Get a quote or book a free consultation. How US fleets buy is set out on our US speed limiters page.

AutoKontrol has made speed limiters in Britain since 1985 and supplies fleets in more than 50 countries, with approvals including ISO 9001, UTAC, TÜV and VCA.