Carrier profile · USDOT 388139 · MC-496962 · Updated Jun 13, 2026

RICKS BACKHOE SERVICE INC

45 power unitsavg 12.4 yrLocal · 1 statesZERBE, PA81/100
CARRIER ACTIVEMC-496962 ACTIVERATED SATISFACTORY
Verified linksFMCSA 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 33.3%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 — 3 vehicle and 16 driver inspections over 24 months.

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

33.3% · latest 6-mo window

Share of vehicle-level roadside inspections in each trailing six-month window that resulted in a vehicle out-of-service order. More resolved windows are needed to establish a trend. 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

16 inspections in the charted months · busiest month May '26 · 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.

Thin coverage
Under-inspected
Expected
Well-monitored
Heavily inspected
≈0.2 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Few roadside inspections for a 45-unit fleet — the out-of-service and violation signals above rest on a small sample, so weight them cautiously. Thin coverage on a young authority is itself a flag.
Registered power units
45
Inspections · 24 mo
16
Annualized
≈8 / yr
Coverage
≈0.2 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

48%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
Hours-of-Service
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
Driver Fitness
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
Vehicle Maintenance
4.8measure
SMS · per-BASIC

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 Driving19 · 0 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance3 · 1 OOS
  • 392.16 Failure to use seat beltUnsafe Driving2 · 0 OOS
  • 392.9 Failure to secure load / cargo not securedUnsafe Driving1 · 0 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance1 · 0 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

No hours-of-service or ELD violations on record across 25 inspections — a clean logging history.

Crash history· 57 total · 4 in 24 mo

57
Total crashes
4
In last 24 mo
1
Fatal
23
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20261001
20251001
20245014
20233023
20203103
20194004
20183023
20173003
20165015
20153032
20144024
20091011
20073021
20062020
20053003
20044023
20031001
20022011
20011010
20002012
19971001
19961011
19951011
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Feb 21, 2026PA00Yes
Jul 6, 2025PA00Yes
Dec 3, 2024PA00Yes
Oct 14, 2024PA02No
Jul 17, 2024PA00Yes
Jun 29, 2024PA00Yes
May 20, 2024PA00Yes
Jul 29, 2023PA01Yes
Mar 10, 2023PA00Yes
Jan 13, 2023PA02Yes
Dec 5, 2020PA00Yes
Dec 5, 2020PA10Yes
Sep 18, 2020PA00Yes
Oct 3, 2019PA00Yes
Mar 10, 2019PA00Yes
Mar 2, 2019PA00Yes
Jan 12, 2019PA00Yes
Nov 9, 2018PA00Yes
Jun 6, 2018PA01Yes
May 15, 2018PA01Yes
Aug 19, 2017PA00Yes
Aug 15, 2017PA00Yes
Jun 19, 2017PA00Yes
Oct 11, 2016PA02Yes
Sep 20, 2016PA00Yes