Indiana DOT Regulations for Commercial Motor Vehicles

Running a commercial motor vehicle in Indiana means complying with two layers of rules at once: federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations that govern drivers, equipment, and operating authority, and Indiana-specific traffic and weight laws under Indiana Code Title 9. The Indiana DOT regulations for commercial motor vehicles cover hours of service, driver qualifications, drug and alcohol testing, carrier registration, roadside inspections, and state road rules, and the penalties for falling behind on any of them range from a $25 ticket to losing your authority to operate.

Who These Rules Apply To

A commercial vehicle generally needs a USDOT number if it operates in interstate commerce and weighs more than 10,000 pounds (gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating), transports 9 to 15 passengers for compensation, or carries 16 or more passengers regardless of compensation.¹ If none of those thresholds apply to your operation, most of what follows still applies to your drivers and vehicles on Indiana roads, but the federal registration and reporting pieces may not.

Hours of Service and Electronic Logs

Federal hours-of-service rules cap driving time for property-carrying drivers at 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. Even with breaks, drivers cannot drive past the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty. A 30-minute break is required after 8 cumulative hours of driving without interruption. Over the longer cycle, drivers may not drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 consecutive days or 70 hours in 8 consecutive days, though a 34-hour restart resets the clock.²

Since December 2017, most drivers required to keep records of duty status must use an electronic logging device instead of paper logbooks. The ELD connects to the engine and records driving time automatically.³ Several categories are exempt: short-haul drivers who operate within a 150-air-mile radius and return to their starting location within 14 hours, drivers of vehicles manufactured before 2000, and drivers in driveaway-towaway operations. Agricultural drivers qualify for exemptions during planting and harvesting seasons.⁴

Driver Qualifications and Medical Certification

Anyone getting a Class A or Class B CDL for the first time, upgrading from Class B to Class A, or adding a school bus, passenger, or hazardous materials endorsement must complete entry-level driver training through a provider listed on FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry. Drivers who held a CDL or the relevant endorsement before February 7, 2022, are grandfathered in.⁵

CDL holders also have to self-certify to the state licensing agency which type of commerce they operate in. FMCSA recognizes four categories: non-excepted interstate, excepted interstate, non-excepted intrastate, and excepted intrastate. Non-excepted interstate drivers must carry a current medical examiner’s certificate. Drivers performing only certain excepted activities, such as transporting school children or operating as government employees, may not need one.⁶ Medical certificates are generally valid for up to two years, though drivers with certain conditions like high blood pressure may receive certificates valid for shorter periods.

Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Queries

The FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse tracks CDL drivers who have violated federal drug and alcohol testing requirements, and employers have two separate query duties.

Before hiring any CDL driver for a safety-sensitive role, the employer must run a full query, which requires the driver’s specific electronic consent. If the driver refuses to consent, the employer cannot allow that driver to operate a commercial vehicle.⁷

After hiring, employers must query the Clearinghouse at least once per year for every CDL driver on the roster. A limited query satisfies the annual requirement and only reveals whether any information exists about the driver, not what that information is. If a limited query returns a hit, the employer has 24 hours to conduct a full query and must pull the driver from safety-sensitive duties until the results are clear.⁷

Registration, Renewals, and Fuel Tax

USDOT Biennial Update

Once you have a USDOT number, you must update your registration every 24 months. The filing deadline depends on the last digit of your USDOT number: numbers ending in 1 file by the end of January, numbers ending in 2 file by the end of February, and so on. Missing the biennial update deactivates your USDOT number and can trigger civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day, capped at $10,000.⁸

Unified Carrier Registration

Interstate carriers also complete Unified Carrier Registration each year. Registration opens on October 1, and all applications and renewals are filed online. The 2026 UCR fees scale with fleet size:

0–2 vehicles: $46
3–5 vehicles: $138
6–20 vehicles: $276
21–100 vehicles: $963
101–1,000 vehicles: $4,592
1,001 or more vehicles: $44,836

Brokers and leasing companies pay a flat $46 regardless of vehicle count.⁹

IFTA Fuel Tax

Indiana-based carriers operating qualified motor vehicles across state lines must hold an International Fuel Tax Agreement license. IFTA lets carriers file a single quarterly return instead of filing in each state they drive through. Carriers maintain detailed records for each vehicle, including miles driven in each jurisdiction and fuel purchase receipts showing the date, location, fuel type, quantity, and total cost. GPS and telematics data can substitute for manual trip logs. Records must be kept for at least four years.

Indiana Road Rules That Hit Commercial Operators

Indiana Code Title 9 governs motor vehicles and traffic statewide. A handful of its provisions come up most often for commercial operations.

Move Over or Slow Down

Drivers approaching a stationary emergency vehicle displaying flashing red, red-and-white, or red-and-blue lights must either change lanes (on highways with at least four lanes) or reduce speed to at least 10 mph below the posted limit. Violating this provision near an emergency vehicle is a Class A infraction. It escalates to a Level 6 felony if the violation causes serious bodily injury or death to anyone operating or affiliated with the emergency vehicle.¹⁰

The same lane-change-or-slow-down requirement applies around stationary recovery vehicles, utility service vehicles, solid waste haulers, road maintenance vehicles, and survey or construction vehicles with flashing amber lights.¹⁰ As of July 2023, the law also covers disabled vehicles with their hazard lights on.¹¹

Seat Belts

Every occupant of a motor vehicle equipped with a manufacturer-installed safety belt meeting federal standards must wear it whenever the vehicle is in forward motion.¹² This is a primary enforcement law. An officer can pull you over solely for an unbuckled occupant. The fine is $25.

Weight Limits

Indiana caps total gross vehicle weight at 80,000 pounds on heavy-duty highways, with a single-axle maximum of 22,400 pounds and a tandem-axle maximum of 18,000 pounds per axle.¹³ Overweight carriers face escalating civil penalties: a warning letter for the first violation, $1,000 for the second, and $1,500 for each after that. More serious overweight infractions carry $2,500 for a second violation and $5,000 for a third or subsequent. The penalty count resets if a carrier goes 365 consecutive days without a violation.¹⁴

Roadside Inspections

Commercial vehicles in Indiana are subject to roadside inspections under the North American Standard Inspection Program. A Level I inspection is the most thorough and covers both the driver and the vehicle. Inspectors check the license, medical certificate, hours-of-service records, and drug and alcohol compliance, then examine brakes, tires, steering, suspension, lighting, cargo securement, coupling devices, exhaust, and frame. A Level II walk-around inspection covers most of the same items but skips components that require getting under the vehicle. A Level III inspection focuses only on the driver’s credentials, records, and compliance.

What Non-Compliance Actually Costs

Federal Fines

FMCSA separates recordkeeping failures from other safety violations. A carrier that fails to maintain required records faces up to $1,584 per day the violation continues, capped at $15,846. Knowingly falsifying records carries penalties up to $15,846 per incident. Non-recordkeeping safety violations, such as operating without proper authority or using unqualified drivers, can trigger fines up to $19,246 per violation. Egregious hours-of-service violations, defined as exceeding the driving-time limit by more than 3 hours, warrant penalties up to the statutory maximum.¹⁵

CSA Scores and Intervention

Beyond individual fines, FMCSA tracks carrier performance through the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. Data from roadside inspections, crash reports, and investigations feeds seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories: Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Hazardous Materials Compliance, and Driver Fitness.¹⁶

Each category produces a percentile ranking against similar operations. General carriers above the 65th percentile in Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, or Hours-of-Service Compliance, or above the 80th percentile in Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, or Driver Fitness, may face FMCSA intervention ranging from warning letters to compliance reviews. Passenger carriers and hazardous materials carriers face lower thresholds. A string of inspection failures that each seemed minor can push the percentile into intervention territory.

State Penalties

Indiana state penalties vary by violation. Reckless driving under Indiana Code 9-21-8-52 is a Class C misdemeanor and becomes a Class A misdemeanor if it causes bodily injury. Recklessly passing a stopped school bus with its arm extended is a Class A misdemeanor, escalates to a Level 6 felony for causing bodily injury, and a Level 5 felony if someone dies. Repeat offenders and drivers involved in severe violations may lose commercial driving privileges through license suspension or revocation.

Defenses and Exceptions

The most straightforward defense to an alleged violation is producing records that disprove the charge. A driver accused of exceeding hours-of-service limits can present ELD data showing compliant driving and rest patterns. Because ELD records are electronic and tamper-resistant, they carry more weight than paper logs and can resolve disputes quickly when the data is clean.

Federal rules allow extra time in genuinely unexpected conditions. When a driver encounters weather, road closures, or traffic that could not have been anticipated before the trip, federal regulations allow up to two additional hours of driving beyond the normal 11-hour limit.⁴ The key word is “unexpected.” If a carrier routinely routes drivers through areas with predictable congestion, that defense will not hold up.

Indiana law also exempts emergency vehicle operators responding to an emergency call, pursuing a suspected lawbreaker, or heading toward a fire alarm. They may park in otherwise restricted areas, proceed through red lights and stop signs after slowing for safety, and exceed posted speed limits, as long as they do not endanger life or property. The exemptions apply only while the vehicle is using its required audible or visual signals.¹⁷

1
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Who Needs to Get a USDOT Number
2
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations
3
eCFR. 49 CFR Part 395 Subpart B – Electronic Logging Devices
4
eCFR. 49 CFR Part 395 – Hours of Service of Drivers
5
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT)
6
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. How Do I Determine Which of the 4 Categories of Commercial Motor Vehicle Operation I Should Self-Certify To
7
eCFR. 49 CFR 382.701 – Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse
8
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. How Do You Complete a Biennial Update
9
Unified Carrier Registration. Fee Brackets
10
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 9 – 9-21-8-35
11
Indiana Department of Transportation. Move Over or Slow Down
12
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-19-10-2 – Use of Safety Belt by Motor Vehicle Occupants
13
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-20-5-2 – Maximum Weight Limitations, Heavy Duty Highways
14
Indiana General Assembly. 45 IAC 22 – Civil Penalties, Oversize-Overweight Carrier Violations
15
Legal Information Institute. 49 CFR Appendix B to Part 386 – Penalty Schedule
16
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Measure
17
Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Indiana Code Provisions on Emergency Vehicles – IC 9-21-1-8