Trucking Safety Consulting & Litigation Support

A Certified Director of Safety for carriers too small to hire one.

Mock DOT audits, CSA score strategy, and written safety programs for motor carriers of 10–75 trucks. Defense counsel and insurers: non-testifying litigation support and 30(b)(6) designee preparation.

I run a fleet → I'm defending a carrier →

At a glance

  • Over two decades In fleet safety operations
  • Certified Director of Safety (CDS) Class A CDL holder
  • 30(b)(6) corporate designee Sat as designee in seven matters
  • Litigation support Non-testifying consulting for defense counsel and insurers
  • TIDA member Regular attendee at USLAW Network, ALFA International, and A.C.T.A. transportation conferences
  • CV & rate schedule Available on request
For Motor Carriers

Know where you stand. Fortify your program.

FMCSA has approved changes to the CSA Safety Measurement System; implementation is still to be announced. The forthcoming methodology reorganizes roadside violations into approximately 100 consolidated groups and revises how percentiles are calculated. We help you understand where you stand today — and prepare for how you'll be measured next. See FMCSA's Prioritization Preview →

CSA Score Strategy

Violation pattern analysis, DataQs challenges, driver scorecards, and corrective action plans built around both the current and forthcoming Safety Measurement System — with a fixed-fee diagnostic to show you where the points are coming from.

Practical, Defensible Policy Development

Safety manuals and policies that are practical, aligned with the FMCSRs, and written so your team can actually follow them — clear, achievable standards instead of absolute promises no carrier can keep.

Fleet Safety & Insurability Assessment

Full mock DOT audits plus a litigation-readiness review that finds the gaps between what your policies promise and what your records show — before opposing counsel does.

Our front door: a fixed-fee mock DOT audit, CSA review and insurance-readiness scorecard with a 90-day plan. 50% of the fee is credited toward any retainer started within 60 days.

How the score is built

From roadside violation to percentile rank

  1. 1 Roadside inspections Violations are recorded at inspection and attributed to your DOT number.
  2. 2 Violation grouping Related violations roll up into groups — approximately 100 consolidated groups under FMCSA's forthcoming methodology.
  3. 3 Severity & time weighting Groups carry severity weights, and more recent events count more heavily than older ones.
  4. 4 Percentile rank Your weighted measure is ranked against carriers with a comparable number of safety events.

Where a carrier stands, by BASIC Illustrative

FMCSA intervention threshold for general (property) carriers

Unsafe Driving Threshold 65% 72
Crash Indicator Threshold 65% 41
Hours-of-Service Compliance Threshold 65% 58
Vehicle Maintenance Threshold 80% 81
Driver Fitness Threshold 80% 34
Controlled Substances / Alcohol Threshold 80% 12

Illustrative example using sample values — not client data. Dashed lines mark FMCSA's current SMS intervention thresholds for general (property) carriers. Thresholds are lower for passenger carriers (50% for Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and HOS; 65% for the others) and for hazardous-materials carriers (60% and 75%); the Hazardous Materials Compliance BASIC is 80% for all carriers. Percentiles are calculated only for BASICs with sufficient data. Figures shown are for explanation only and are not a prediction of any carrier's results. Under FMCSA's approved but not yet implemented methodology, Controlled Substances/Alcohol violations move into Unsafe Driving, Vehicle Maintenance is split into two categories, and the Driver Fitness threshold rises to 90% for general carriers.

See services & pricing →

Services & Pricing for Motor Carriers

One ladder. Start where you are.

Built for carriers of 10–75 trucks that need a safety program capable of surviving an audit, an underwriter, and a deposition — but can't justify a full-time safety director's salary. Every engagement has a defined scope and a number up front. Milepost Compliance is included in every retainer.

  1. 0 Milepost Compliance DQ files, expirations and Clearinghouse tracking — the software floor $10 / driver / mo · managed $35
  2. 1 Fleet Safety & Insurability Assessment Mock audit + CSA + insurance readiness, with a 90-day plan $2,500–$4,500 fixed
  3. 2 Fixed-scope projects Rating upgrades, renewal packages, DQ programs, policy manuals $1,500–$7,500
  4. 3 On-call advisory Crash response, DataQs, prepaid hour blocks $225 / hr
  5. 4 Fractional Director of Safety A named CDS on your org chart, owning the outcomes From $2,500 / mo
Software · any fleet size

Milepost Compliance

Driver qualification files, expiration tracking and Clearinghouse queries, managed in one place. Built by a working safety director, not a software vendor.

  • DQ file checklist and document storage per driver
  • Warnings before MVRs, medical cards, CDLs and annual reviews expire
  • Clearinghouse pre-employment and annual query tracking
  • ELP and non-domiciled CDL screening fields
  • Audit-ready export of any driver file
  • Managed option: we build, maintain and audit the files for you
$10 per driver per month Managed files $35 per driver per month · $300 monthly minimum · new-file build $75–$150 per driver
Client login Request access →
Start here

Fleet Safety & Insurability Assessment

A senior-led mock DOT audit across all six factors, a CSA/BASIC and DataQ review, and an insurance-readiness scorecard — delivered as a written findings report with a 90-day plan you can hand to your insurer.

  • Mock audit of DQ, HOS/ELD, drug & alcohol, maintenance, accident register and written policies
  • Violation-pattern analysis and DataQ opportunities
  • Insurability scorecard against what underwriters and brokers now ask for
  • Prioritized fix list with owner and deadline for each item
  • Findings review with ownership
  • 50% of the fee credited toward any retainer started within 60 days
  • 10–25 trucks$2,500
  • 26–50 trucks$3,500
  • 51–75 trucks$4,500

On-site day +$2,000 plus travel

Book an assessment

New Entrant Audit Readiness

For carriers with new operating authority. Federal law requires a new-entrant safety audit within 12 months after you begin operations — 120 days for passenger motorcoach operators (49 U.S.C. 31144(g)(1)). New carriers tend to fail on the same predictable gaps.

  • Pre-audit gap assessment against the FMCSA audit checklist
  • Driver Qualification file built for every driver
  • Drug and alcohol testing program set up and documented
  • Hours-of-service and ELD records reviewed
  • Maintenance files and inspection program established
  • Accident register and the required written policies
  • Mock audit walkthrough with a prioritized fix list
  • Audit-day preparation call
$1,500–$2,500 Quoted individually above 10 trucks
Ask about audit readiness

Fixed-Scope Projects

For the problem in front of you today. Each is scoped and priced before work begins.

ProjectPrice
Conditional-rating corrective action plan and upgrade request, through FMCSA's decision$4,500–$7,500
Insurance renewal package — loss-run narrative, safety program dossier, underwriter meeting$3,500–$6,000
Driver qualification and onboarding program build$2,500–$5,000
Safety policy and compliance manual$3,000–$6,000
Post-crash response playbook with tabletop drill$2,500
DataQ challenge$250 each · 5 for $1,000
Driver safety meeting or training session$750
Scope a project

On-Call Advisory

For carriers that want a safety director's number in their phone without a retainer.

  • Consulting and incident response, $225 per hour
  • Prepaid 10-hour block, $2,000 (valid 12 months)
  • Crash-night response for non-retainer clients: $1,500 call-out plus hourly
$225 per hour Prepaid 10-hour block $2,000 · valid 12 months
Ask about on-call advisory
Top retainer tier

Fractional Director of Safety

Milepost Compliance, plus ownership of the safety function itself (managed DQ files are included from the Standard tier up). For carriers that need a safety director's judgment and accountability but don't have the fleet size to justify the salary.

  • Own the written safety program and the annual safety plan
  • Author and revise policy as the regulations change
  • Represent safety in insurance renewals and loss-run reviews
  • Run post-accident review and corrective action
  • Driver coaching framework and progressive discipline standards
  • Hiring standards and onboarding for new drivers
  • Monthly reporting to ownership, quarterly safety review
  • Regulatory liaison during audits and interventions

Core

10–25 trucks

$2,500per month

~10 hrs · on-site quarterly

  • Milepost Compliance
  • Monthly CSA and inspection review
  • 3 DataQs/mo
  • Monthly owner call
  • Insurer and broker questionnaire support

Standard Most requested

26–50 trucks

$4,500per month

~18 hrs · one on-site day a month

  • Everything in Core
  • Managed DQ files
  • Unlimited DataQs
  • On-site driver meeting, file spot-audit and yard walk
  • Telematics coaching cadence
  • Quarterly KPI dashboard
  • Annual insurance renewal package
  • 24/7 crash line

Executive

51–75 trucks

$7,000per month

~32 hrs · two on-site days a month

  • Everything in Standard
  • Named Director of Safety on your org chart and insurer submissions
  • Supervision of your in-house compliance clerk
  • Claims oversight and counsel liaison
  • Annual mock audit and policy refresh
  • Quarterly strategy session with ownership

Six-month initial term, then month to month with 30 days' notice. Billed monthly in advance. Travel beyond 75 miles of Middleville, MI at cost. Ten percent off with twelve months prepaid. Hours are a guide, not a cap.

Talk about a retainer

Consulting pricing applies to motor carriers of 10–75 power units and is confirmed in writing before any work begins. Milepost Compliance software is available to fleets of any size. Litigation support engagements are separate — see Litigation Support.

For Defense Counsel & Insurers

Someone who has actually sat in the chair.

An unprepared corporate designee can turn a defensible case into a difficult one. In coordination with retained counsel, we help prepare 30(b)(6) designees to give accurate, complete, and properly bounded testimony. TIDA member, and a regular attendee at the USLAW Network, ALFA International, and A.C.T.A. transportation conferences.

30(b)(6) Witness Preparation

Topic-by-topic preparation of corporate designees, in coordination with retained counsel, grounded in first-hand experience testifying as one. Documents mastered, scope understood, answers accurate and bounded.

Reptile & Edge Tactics

Plaintiff approaches built on broad safety-rule questions, hypotheticals, and attempts to expand a designee's scope beyond the noticed topics. In coordination with retained counsel, we help designees recognize these questions and answer them accurately and within scope.

Standard-of-Care Consulting

Standard-of-care analysis, safety program audits and — in coordination with retained counsel — discovery support and case merit evaluation, from a practitioner current on FMCSA regulations and the forthcoming SMS methodology changes.

Litigation Support

Consulting support on trucking safety standard of care.

Engaged by defense counsel and insurers as a non-testifying consulting expert — analysis grounded in more than two decades of hands-on fleet safety practice rather than a career built in a conference room.

  • Areas of analysis. FMCSA regulatory compliance and industry standard of care; CSA/SMS scoring methodology (including FMCSA's forthcoming approved changes); safety program and policy adequacy; driver qualification, hours of service, and drug & alcohol compliance; accident response and post-crash procedures.
  • Work product. Case merit evaluation, safety program and document review, deposition topic development, 30(b)(6) designee preparation, and written analysis prepared for counsel.
  • Consulting role. Engagements are non-testifying and run under retained counsel's direction, which ordinarily keeps the work outside routine discovery — counsel makes that determination for the matter. Testifying engagements are not currently offered.
  • Available on request. CV, rate schedule, and engagement terms. Conflicts checked before any case discussion.

Request CV & rate schedule

“The gaps that hurt a carrier at trial are visible in its safety file long before anyone sits for a deposition.” — Why the file review comes first
Why Milepost

Why carriers and counsel work with Milepost.

  • A named person, on site. You get a Certified Director of Safety who has run safety for 1,000-truck fleets, sat as 30(b)(6) corporate designee in seven matters, and shows up in your yard — not a call center.
  • Operator credibility. Advice from a practitioner with over two decades in fleet safety operations — not a generalist or a file-management service.
  • Built to hold up. Every policy, audit, and CSA plan is written to be followed in daily operations and to stand up to review by an auditor, an underwriter, or a court.
  • Prepared for the forthcoming SMS changes. Consolidated violation groups and revised percentile calculations — explained in plain English, applied to your data.
  • Both sides of the equation. Carrier work keeps the litigation work grounded; time in the deposition chair makes the carrier work sharper.
James Butler, Certified Director of Safety and principal of Milepost Safety
James Butler, CDS Principal · Certified Director of Safety About James →
Contact

Request a consultation

Carriers: most engagements start with the Fleet Safety & Insurability Assessment. Counsel: request the CV and rate schedule.

Before you send: Do not send confidential, privileged, or case-specific materials. An inquiry does not create an engagement, confidentiality obligation, or conflict clearance.

Or write directly to [email protected].

Direct

[email protected]

For attorneys

CV, rate schedule, and engagement terms available on request. Engagements are non-testifying and run under retained counsel's direction. Conflicts checked before any case discussion — please do not send privileged material with an initial inquiry.

Response time

Inquiries answered within one business day.