FMCSA announced the funding opportunity on November 3
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is accepting applications for the Crash Causal Factors Program Cooperative Agreement Program. Up to $7 million is available in one-time competitive funding to support data collection for the agency’s Heavy-Duty Truck Study, with no single award exceeding $500,000. Applications are due December 28, 2026.
The money is for detailed post-crash data collection
Eligible costs can include post-crash commercial-motor-vehicle inspections, crash reconstructions, investigations, crash-data reporting and equipment used to collect information on qualifying crashes. The crashes must involve a fatality and a Class 7 or Class 8 heavy-duty truck within a designated study sampling location. Expenses must directly support the study’s data-collection work.
Private carriers and individual drivers cannot apply
Eligibility is limited to selected participating and alternate States and local law-enforcement agencies that meet the study requirements. The federal opportunity lists State and local government applicants, not private motor carriers, equipment suppliers or individual drivers. FMCSA expects cooperative-agreement applicants to define performance goals and show how their proposed work will improve inspections, investigations, reconstructions and reporting.
The study targets 2,000 fatal crashes over two years
FMCSA says the Heavy-Duty Truck Study will seek a nationally representative sample of 2,000 fatal crashes from about 30 States. It covers Class 7 and 8 trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of at least 26,001 pounds, including tractor-semitrailers and heavy straight trucks. Researchers will examine driver, vehicle, motor-carrier and environmental factors, then publish an anonymized public database and final report after analysis.
The announcement does not create a new roadside rule
The funding notice supports research; it does not change hours-of-service limits, inspection standards, CDL requirements, crash-reporting duties or carrier safety ratings. FMCSA says partial findings may be released before the final report, but preliminary data should not be treated as a regulation or proof of fault in an individual crash. Any future policy change would require its own legal and administrative process.
Driver and fleet takeaway
No new driver action is required solely because this grant opportunity opened. Fleets should nevertheless review post-crash procedures now: protect people first, notify emergency services, follow required drug-and-alcohol testing and company reporting rules, preserve ELD and telematics data, photograph evidence only when safe, and avoid directing a driver to speculate about fault. Safety teams should track future CCFP findings for recurring equipment, roadway, operational or training factors and compare them with the fleet’s own verified crash data before changing policy.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — Crash Causal Factors Program Funding Opportunity
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