Carrier profile · USDOT 2564775 · MC-895452 · Updated Jul 18, 2026

FIRST WAY INC

20 power unitsavg 4.4 yrNational · 26 statesPALATINE, IL88/100
CARRIER ACTIVEMC-895452 ACTIVE
Verified linksfirstwayinc.comFMCSA SAFER

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 20.7%24-mo cumulative
050%nat'l 22.26%
Driver OOS 8.0%24-mo cumulative
030%nat'l 6.67%

Every inspection in the window pooled — 29 vehicle and 50 driver inspections over 24 months.

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

33.3% · latest 6-mo window▼ Falling

Share of vehicle-level roadside inspections in each trailing six-month window that resulted in a vehicle out-of-service order. Trending down 3.1 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

46 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Nov '24 · 7

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.

Well-monitored
Under-inspected
Expected
Well-monitored
Heavily inspected
≈1.3 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Within the expected band for a 20-unit fleet — FMCSA has inspected this carrier often enough that the out-of-service and violation signals above are statistically trustworthy.
Registered power units
20
Inspections · 24 mo
50
Annualized
≈25 / yr
Coverage
≈1.3 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

73%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
27%
Hours-of-Service
Vektor peer est.
25%
Driver Fitness
Vektor peer est.
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
32%
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 Driving16 · 0 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance6 · 0 OOS
  • 393.75 Tires (defective / underinflated / worn)Vehicle Maintenance4 · 4 OOS
  • 395.30 ELD — use / data transferHOS Compliance3 · 0 OOS
  • 395.8 Record of duty status (log / ELD) not current or missingHOS Compliance3 · 2 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance2 · 1 OOS
  • 396.3 Inspection / repair / maintenance not performedVehicle Maintenance2 · 1 OOS
  • 393.207 Parts & accessories (vehicle condition)Vehicle Maintenance2 · 2 OOS
  • 393.209 Parts & accessories (vehicle condition)Vehicle Maintenance1 · 0 OOS
  • 393.95 Emergency equipment (extinguisher, triangles)Vehicle Maintenance1 · 0 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

7 hours-of-service / ELD violations on record · most recent Nov 19, 2024. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

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

Trending worse — 75% of ELD violations are in the last 24 months.

Crash history· 11 total · 4 in 24 mo

11
Total crashes
4
In last 24 mo
0
Fatal
5
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20262012
20251001
20241001
20231001
20211011
20184034
20171001
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Jul 11, 2026LA01Yes
Jan 17, 2026GA00Yes
Dec 9, 2025NC00Yes
Nov 11, 2024WI00Yes
May 5, 2023GA00Yes
Sep 17, 2021PA01Yes
Nov 14, 2018IL01Yes
Nov 13, 2018PA01Yes
Mar 3, 2018NJ03Yes
Feb 28, 2018KY00Yes
Jun 9, 2017WY00Yes