Carrier profile · USDOT 1027208 · Updated Jul 18, 2026

Northern Lights Distributing Inc

20 power unitsavg 5.3 yrRegional · 4 statesFORT DODGE, IA94/100
AUTHORITY STATUS UNKNOWN
Verified linksnorlidi.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 9.1%24-mo cumulative
050%nat'l 22.26%
Driver OOS 0.0%24-mo cumulative
030%nat'l 6.67%

Every inspection in the window pooled — 11 vehicle and 17 driver inspections over 24 months.

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

20.0% · 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 22.7 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

17 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Oct '24 · 4

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
≈0.4 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Roadside-inspection volume is about what you'd expect for a 20-unit fleet — enough signal to read the safety record, though not a heavy sample.
Registered power units
20
Inspections · 24 mo
17
Annualized
≈9 / yr
Coverage
≈0.4 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

47%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
Hours-of-Service
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
Driver Fitness
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
50%
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 Driving20 · 0 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance6 · 1 OOS
  • 392.16 Failure to use seat beltUnsafe Driving3 · 0 OOS
  • 393.75 Tires (defective / underinflated / worn)Vehicle Maintenance3 · 2 OOS
  • 396.17 Periodic (annual) inspectionVehicle Maintenance2 · 0 OOS
  • 393.95 Emergency equipment (extinguisher, triangles)Vehicle Maintenance2 · 0 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance2 · 2 OOS
  • 396.3 Inspection / repair / maintenance not performedVehicle Maintenance1 · 1 OOS
  • 391.41 No / expired medical certificateDriver Fitness1 · 1 OOS
  • 392.82 Using a hand-held mobile phoneUnsafe Driving1 · 0 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

1 hours-of-service / ELD violation on record · most recent Apr 29, 2024. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

0ELD device issues
1No log / no ELD
0False logs
0Drove over hours

Crash history· 14 total · 1 in 24 mo

14
Total crashes
1
In last 24 mo
0
Fatal
5
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20251001
20231011
20181001
20173022
20162012
20141001
20131001
20121011
20111001
20042002
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Dec 17, 2025WI00Yes
Nov 9, 2023IA01Yes
May 9, 2018IA00Yes
Oct 26, 2017MN01Yes
Sep 8, 2017IA01No
Jul 21, 2017MN00Yes
Jun 9, 2016MN00Yes
Apr 21, 2016IA02Yes
May 23, 2014IA00Yes
Dec 6, 2013MN00Yes
Jul 6, 2012IA01Yes
May 17, 2011IA00Yes
Jan 29, 2004MN00Yes
Jan 21, 2004IA00Yes