§392.9 puts the cargo-securement responsibility on the driver: the driver must confirm distribution, securement, devices, and accessibility before driving, must inspect within the first 50 miles, and must re-inspect every 3 hours or 150 miles (whichever comes first), at every change of duty status, and after any event affecting securement. §393 subpart I sets the performance standards; §392.9 enforces the driver's check.
Severity weight
Severity weight 5 in the Unsafe Driving BASIC. The carrier-side counterpart (§393.100 et seq.) is in the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC — a single shifted-load finding can hit both BASICs.
OOS
Cargo that does not meet §393 securement performance is placed out of service. The driver cannot continue until the load is re-secured, and the carrier must document the corrective action.
How to prevent it
- Train drivers to the §393 subpart I standards — most violations come from missing or insufficient tiedowns, not from no tiedowns at all.
- Build the 50-mile / 3-hour / 150-mile re-inspection into the route plan so it is not skipped.
- Commodity-specific rules (logs, metal coils, large boulders, intermodal containers) live in §393.116–.136 — train per commodity.
How Roadworthy HQ helps
A §392.9 citation lands on the driver who was responsible for the load. Roadworthy HQ does not record individual violation codes, pull CSA or SMS scores, or track coaching. What it keeps is the driver file an auditor opens next: the annual MVR and the §391.25 annual review, each with reminders 60, 30, and 7 days out, and the qualification-file documents with their retention periods enforced. If the citation came from a roadside inspection, log that inspection on the vehicle (date, state, level, driver, number of violations, out-of-service or not).