Carrier profile · USDOT 869277 · Updated Jun 13, 2026

Potomac Metals Inc

20 power unitsavg 7.2 yrRegional · 4 statesSTERLING, VA94/100
AUTHORITY STATUS UNKNOWN
Verified linkspotomacmetals.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 3.7%24-mo cumulative
050%nat'l 22.26%
Driver OOS 3.2%24-mo cumulative
030%nat'l 6.67%

Every inspection in the window pooled — 27 vehicle and 31 driver inspections over 24 months.

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

0.0% · 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 22.8 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

30 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Nov '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
≈0.8 / 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
31
Annualized
≈16 / yr
Coverage
≈0.8 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

17%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
Hours-of-Service
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
27%
Driver Fitness
Vektor peer est.
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
18%
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 Driving8 · 0 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance4 · 1 OOS
  • 396.3 Inspection / repair / maintenance not performedVehicle Maintenance3 · 2 OOS
  • 393.47 Brake actuators / linings / componentsVehicle Maintenance3 · 0 OOS
  • 393.11 Required lamps/reflectors missingVehicle Maintenance2 · 0 OOS
  • 383.23 Operating without a valid CDLDriver Fitness1 · 1 OOS
  • 393.48 Brakes inoperativeVehicle Maintenance1 · 1 OOS
  • 393.209 Parts & accessories (vehicle condition)Vehicle Maintenance1 · 1 OOS
  • 392.16 Failure to use seat beltUnsafe Driving1 · 0 OOS
  • 396.17 Periodic (annual) inspectionVehicle Maintenance1 · 0 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

No hours-of-service or ELD violations on record across 40 inspections — a clean logging history.

Crash history· 15 total · 3 in 24 mo

15
Total crashes
3
In last 24 mo
0
Fatal
5
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20252002
20242002
20192022
20173013
20161011
20152012
20111001
20101001
20071001
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Aug 12, 2025MD00Yes
Mar 4, 2025VA00Yes
Dec 4, 2024VA00Yes
Feb 27, 2024VA00Yes
Oct 24, 2019VA01Yes
May 20, 2019MD01Yes
Aug 18, 2017VA01Yes
Jun 9, 2017MD00Yes
Apr 25, 2017VA00Yes
May 6, 2016VA03Yes
Nov 11, 2015VA00Yes
Oct 30, 2015VA02Yes
Dec 2, 2011VA00Yes
Jul 29, 2010VA00Yes
Nov 9, 2007VA00Yes