What 392.2MI means in plain language
Code 392.2MI targets a specific safety judgment call: an officer has determined that your physical condition — whether from fatigue, illness, or something else — had compromised your ability to safely operate a commercial motor vehicle. It doesn't require a crash or a near-miss. The officer's assessment at the roadside is enough.
The regulation covers any situation where a driver's alertness or capability has deteriorated to the point that continuing to drive creates an unreasonable risk. That could mean you mentioned being sick, you showed visible signs of exhaustion, or your responses during the stop raised a red flag. The standard is impairment broad enough to make driving unsafe — not just "a little tired."
What makes this code distinct is how subjective the trigger is. Unlike a brake defect or a missing placard, there's no single measurable threshold. The citation lives or dies on the officer's field judgment, which is exactly why understanding the data around it matters for both drivers and fleet managers.
What our enforcement data actually shows
Across our database of 13 million+ inspections, 392.2MI has generated 4,245 all-time citations, ranking it #374 out of 3,036 FMCSR codes by citation volume. That puts it in the top 13% of all codes by frequency — not a rare citation.
Enforcement is clearly accelerating. Our inspection records show 1,542 citations in just the last 12 months, and 334 in the last 90 days alone. Looking at the monthly trend, citation counts climbed from 73 in April 2025 to a 12-month peak of 158 in June 2025, and held in the 130–155 range through much of the second half of 2025 before a modest dip late in the year.
Here's what should actually reassure you right now: the out-of-service rate for 392.2MI is just 0.3%. Across all 4,245 all-time citations in our database, only 13 drivers were placed out of service. The other 4,232 were cited and kept moving. Compare that to the all-FMCSR average OOS rate of 31.4% — 392.2MI comes in at a fraction of that. Getting cited does not typically mean getting parked.
That said, the citation itself is not harmless. It carries a CSA Severity Weight of 8, which is on the higher end of the scale, and it will appear in your PSP record and your carrier's SMS data.
Who gets cited most
Looking at the last 180 days of our inspection records, Illinois dominates the citation map by a wide margin — 479 citations, with 4 resulting in an OOS action (a 0.8% rate). North Carolina comes in second with 102 citations and 1 OOS placement (1.0% rate). New Mexico ranks third with 64 citations and zero OOS placements.
The OOS-rate gap between those top states is small — within a percentage point — so state-to-state enforcement philosophy on whether to park a driver appears broadly consistent for this code, even if Illinois enforcement volume is dramatically higher than other states.
Among carriers, our data shows fleets such as Federal Express Corporation (USDOT 86876) with 25 all-time citations and New Prime Inc (USDOT 3706) with 19 citations leading the count. These are high-mileage, high-inspection-volume operations, so their appearance at the top of this list reflects exposure as much as anything else.
How severe is this compared to similar codes
The 392.2 family of codes all address the same underlying regulation but are applied under different state or inspection contexts. The comparison is instructive.
The base code 392.2 — the broadest version of operating while ill or fatigued — has 1,208,164 all-time citations in our database with a 0.8% OOS rate. That's roughly 285 times the citation volume of 392.2MI's 4,245 citations, which tells you 392.2MI is a more narrowly applied sub-code.
Code 392.2RG, which shares the same label, shows 96,652 citations and a 0.1% OOS rate — similar to 392.2MI's 0.3% rate and confirming that across this code family, out-of-service outcomes are genuinely rare.
Code 392.2-SLLEQP, by contrast, carries a 2.4% OOS rate on 72,352 citations — the highest OOS rate among the peer codes in this category. That's still well below the all-FMCSR average of 31.4%, but it shows that certain sub-code variants within this family carry meaningfully more out-of-service risk than 392.2MI does.
In short: 392.2MI is a real citation with a real CSA weight, but within its own peer group it sits near the low end of out-of-service risk.
How to avoid it
The co-occurring violation pattern in our data is telling. In the last 90 days, 392.2MI appeared in the same inspections as equipment and lamp violations at high rates — 43 shared inspections with 393.9 (inoperable required lamp), 33 with 393.95A (missing or defective fire extinguisher), and 15 with 393.95F (missing stopped-vehicle warning devices). An officer who finds equipment deficiencies is more likely to scrutinize driver condition as well. A clean truck reduces the chance the inspection goes deeper.
- Complete a real pre-trip. Freightliner (1,072 citations), Kenworth (456), and Volvo (425) are the most-cited vehicle makes in our data for this code. These are common OTR platforms where long runs and overnight driving are routine. Before you start the engine, honestly assess whether you're fit to drive.
- Check every required lamp before you roll. With 393.9 (inoperable required lamp) co-occurring in 43 of the last 90 days' inspections, a burned bulb is one of the most common hooks that deepens a stop into a driver-condition inquiry.
- Verify your emergency equipment is present and serviceable. Fire extinguisher (393.95A, 33 co-occurring inspections) and warning device deficiencies (393.95F, 15 co-occurring inspections) are fast, visible findings that escalate scrutiny.
- Don't drive sick. If you're running a fever, taking sedating medication, or couldn't sleep, the data shows officers will notice — and 8 CSA severity points hit your record hard.
- Know your hours, but also know yourself. Being legal on Hours of Service is not a defense against 392.2MI. An officer can cite you for visible fatigue even when your logbook is clean.
- Check your inspection report (393.43 co-occurring in 14 inspections). Brake relay and emergency valve issues suggest some of these inspections were comprehensive Level I stops — exactly the kind where driver condition gets evaluated alongside equipment.