Carrier profile · USDOT 574234 · MC-280173 · Updated Jun 13, 2026

DOWELL EXPRESS INC

38 power unitsavg 6.4 yrMulti-region · 13 statesJEFFERSON, GA81/100
CARRIER ACTIVEMC-280173 ACTIVERATED SATISFACTORY

Safety

Roadside out-of-service rates versus the national benchmark, inspection and crash trends, decoded violation themes, and ELD / hours-of-service integrity — the full safety picture behind the verdict.

Out-of-service rate· 24-mo cumulative · vs national

Vehicle OOS 28.6%24-mo cumulative
050%nat'l 22.26%
Driver OOS 5.2%24-mo cumulative
030%nat'l 6.67%

Every inspection in the window pooled — 21 vehicle and 58 driver inspections over 24 months.

Vehicle OOS rate· vehicle OOS · vehicle-level inspections · 6-month trailing

36.4% · latest 6-mo window▲ Rising

Share of vehicle-level roadside inspections in each trailing six-month window that resulted in a vehicle out-of-service order. Trending up 23.2 pts across the window. The national vehicle benchmark uses the same metric and is shown on the chart.

Roadside inspection history· 24 charted calendar months · vehicle / driver level · any-OOS overlay

58 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Jul '26 · 8

Vehicle-levelDriver-levelAny OOS

Monthly FMCSA roadside inspections across the 24 charted calendar months. Bars show level-qualified vehicle and driver populations; one inspection can qualify for both. The line shows inspections with any out-of-service result.

Inspection coverage· expected vs observed · the fraud signal

Inspection coverage

How heavily FMCSA inspects this fleet for its size — it tells you how much to trust the safety signals above. Thin coverage on a young authority is a fraud signal nobody else surfaces.

Expected band
Under-inspected
Expected
Well-monitored
Heavily inspected
0.8 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Roadside-inspection volume is about what you'd expect for a 38-unit fleet — enough signal to read the safety record, though not a heavy sample.
Registered power units
38
Inspections · 24 mo
58
Annualized
29 / yr
Coverage
0.8 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

84%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
66%
Hours-of-Service
Vektor peer est.
15%
Driver Fitness
Vektor peer est.
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
73%
Vehicle Maintenance
Vektor peer est.

Percentile = standing among same-exposure peers (higher = worse). FMCSA publishes percentiles for only some carriers (shown official); elsewhere we show a Vektor peer-percentile estimate, or the absolute SMS measure when there are too few inspections to rank.

Violation themes· decoded · grouped by BASIC

What this carrier actually gets cited for — FMCSA violation codes decoded into plain English, ranked by frequency.

  • 392.2 State/local traffic law violation (speeding, etc.)Unsafe Driving15 · 0 OOS
  • 393.75 Tires (defective / underinflated / worn)Vehicle Maintenance6 · 5 OOS
  • 395.8 Record of duty status (log / ELD) not current or missingHOS Compliance5 · 1 OOS
  • 393.95 Emergency equipment (extinguisher, triangles)Vehicle Maintenance4 · 0 OOS
  • 393.47 Brake actuators / linings / componentsVehicle Maintenance3 · 1 OOS
  • 393.78 Windshield wipersVehicle Maintenance3 · 0 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance3 · 0 OOS
  • 395.24 ELD — record edits / dataHOS Compliance3 · 0 OOS
  • 396.3 Inspection / repair / maintenance not performedVehicle Maintenance2 · 1 OOS
  • 392.16 Failure to use seat beltUnsafe Driving2 · 0 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

11 hours-of-service / ELD violations on record · most recent May 29, 2026. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

4ELD device issues
0No log / no ELD
4False logs
2Drove over hours

Trending worse — 100% of ELD violations are in the last 24 months. Falsified-log violations are a serious integrity flag.

Crash history· 44 total · 1 in 24 mo

44
Total crashes
1
In last 24 mo
1
Fatal
17
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20261001
20231001
20221001
20212012
20201001
20181001
20161001
20142002
20132002
20121001
20102002
20093123
20082012
20072012
20062012
20055044
20042011
20031001
20028037
19992022
19971001
19961011
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Mar 13, 2026IN00Yes
Jul 21, 2023GA00Yes
Oct 24, 2022GA00Yes
Sep 30, 2021GA00Yes
Jun 25, 2021SC01Yes
Nov 2, 2020GA00Yes
Mar 27, 2018IL00Yes
Oct 4, 2016SC00Yes
Sep 9, 2014PA00Yes
Apr 21, 2014PA00Yes
Oct 20, 2013NC00Yes
Jun 18, 2013PA00Yes
May 3, 2012SC00Yes
Jul 31, 2010NC00Yes
Feb 10, 2010VA00Yes
Aug 28, 2009PA01Yes
Mar 18, 2009LA00Yes
Feb 17, 2009VA11Yes
Aug 21, 2008NJ01Yes
May 1, 2008TX00Yes
Nov 30, 2007WI01Yes
Feb 24, 2007MS00Yes
Dec 18, 2006DE00Yes
Oct 20, 2006VA01Yes
Dec 9, 2005PA01No