Carrier profile · USDOT 267922 · MC-173349 · Updated Jun 13, 2026

STERLING EXPRESS LTD

20 power unitsavg 11 yrRegional · 7 statesVALPARAISO, IN81/100
CARRIER ACTIVEMC-173349 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 — 6 vehicle and 13 driver inspections over 24 months.

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

66.7% · latest 6-mo window● Steady

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

12 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Sep '25 · 2

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
0.3 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Few roadside inspections for a 20-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
20
Inspections · 24 mo
13
Annualized
7 / yr
Coverage
0.3 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

17%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
32%
Hours-of-Service
Vektor peer est.
Driver Fitness
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
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 Driving5 · 0 OOS
  • 393.120 Parts & accessories (vehicle condition)Vehicle Maintenance3 · 3 OOS
  • 395.8 Record of duty status (log / ELD) not current or missingHOS Compliance2 · 0 OOS
  • 395.24 ELD — record edits / dataHOS Compliance1 · 0 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance1 · 0 OOS
  • 392.82 Using a hand-held mobile phoneUnsafe Driving1 · 0 OOS
  • 393.75 Tires (defective / underinflated / worn)Vehicle Maintenance1 · 1 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

3 hours-of-service / ELD violations on record · most recent Dec 30, 2024. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

1ELD device issues
0No log / no ELD
2False logs
0Drove over hours

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

Crash history· 39 total · 3 in 24 mo

39
Total crashes
3
In last 24 mo
5
Fatal
20
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20253022
20231001
20191001
20181011
20171001
20161001
20151011
20142112
20111011
20071110
20064014
20052011
20041001
20021001
20013113
20001001
19991011
19982021
19972022
19963132
19952012
19942011
19932101
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Nov 21, 2025IN01No
Aug 7, 2025IN00Yes
Jan 20, 2025IN02Yes
Jun 12, 2023IN00Yes
Apr 16, 2019IL00Yes
May 29, 2018IN01Yes
May 24, 2017IN00Yes
Dec 11, 2016OH00Yes
Sep 15, 2015IA01Yes
May 12, 2014FL11Yes
Feb 11, 2014NY00Yes
Jul 19, 2011IN01Yes
Jan 25, 2007PA14No
Jun 14, 2006IN00Yes
Feb 21, 2006IN02Yes
Jan 18, 2006MI00Yes
Jan 17, 2006IN00Yes
Nov 21, 2005IL01No
Jul 7, 2005IN00Yes
Mar 17, 2004IN00Yes
Mar 14, 2002IL00Yes
Dec 20, 2001KY02Yes
Sep 14, 2001IN10Yes
Jul 26, 2001IN00Yes
Feb 4, 2000IN00Yes