What 392.82A1 means in plain language
FMCSR 392.82A1 targets one specific behavior: manually operating an electronic device to compose, send, or read a text-based message while your commercial motor vehicle is in motion. That means tapping out a message on your phone, scrolling through a thread, or typing anything on a handheld device while the truck is rolling — all of it falls under this rule.
The regulation does not care whether you were stopped at a red light or cruising at highway speed. If the vehicle is considered "in operation" under federal rules and your fingers are on that device entering or reading text, you are in violation. Voice commands and hands-free interactions are a different matter, but anything that requires you to manually touch and read a screen to communicate crosses the line.
The CSA severity weight assigned to this violation is 10 — the highest possible on the FMCSR scale. That number is not a citation fine; it is the weight the Safety Measurement System uses when calculating your carrier's Unsafe Driving BASIC score. A single citation at weight 10 can move the needle on a fleet's CSA profile in a meaningful way, and it stays on your record for 36 months.
What our enforcement data actually shows
Across our inspection database, 392.82A1 has accumulated 3,074 all-time citations, placing it at rank #434 out of 3,036 FMCSR codes by citation volume. That puts it in the top 15% of all codes for enforcement frequency — officers are actively watching for this.
In the last 12 months alone, our records show 1,608 citations written for this code, and 341 of those came in just the last 90 days. Enforcement is not slowing down. Looking at the monthly trend, citations in May 2025 spiked to 160 in a single month, and the numbers have stayed between 121 and 160 every month from May 2025 through March 2026.
Here is the one piece of genuinely good news: 392.82A1 is not OOS-eligible under normal circumstances. Out of 3,074 all-time citations in our database, only 4 resulted in an out-of-service order — an OOS rate of 0.1%. Compare that to the all-FMCSR average OOS rate of 31.4%, and you can see this code sits far below the threshold where inspectors are pulling drivers off the road. You will almost certainly drive away from the inspection. What you will not escape is the CSA weight-10 hit that follows you for three years.
Who gets cited most
Over the last 180 days, our inspection records show North Carolina leading all states with 302 citations for 392.82A1, followed by Texas with 202 citations and Illinois with 185 citations. New Mexico shows 52 citations in the same window. Notably, all of these states show a 0.0% OOS rate for this code, which is consistent with the national picture — enforcement here is about documentation and CSA consequence, not roadside detention.
The OOS-rate variation across the top states is negligible (all at 0.0%), so there is no meaningful difference in detention risk based on where you are running. The citation risk, however, is clearly concentrated in the Southeast and major freight corridors through the South and Midwest.
Looking at fleet-level data, our records show carriers such as Federal Express Corporation (USDOT 86876) with 16 all-time citations and Evans Delivery Company Inc (USDOT 38111) also with 16 citations. Swift Transportation Co of Arizona LLC (USDOT 54283) and New Prime Inc (USDOT 3706) each appear 12 times in our database. These are among the largest fleets in the country by truck count, so their presence at the top of this list reflects exposure from sheer operating volume — not a judgment on their safety programs.
How severe is this compared to similar codes
In the Unsafe Driving category, 392.82A1's citation volume of 3,074 is modest compared to some of its neighbors, but that context is important to understand.
Code 392.2 — covering operating a CMV while ill or fatigued — has accumulated 1,208,164 citations in our database with a 0.8% OOS rate. That is roughly 393 times the citation count of 392.82A1, which tells you how dominant general unsafe driving enforcement is across the board. Code 392.2RG, a specific variant of that same fatigued-driving rule, shows 96,652 citations with a 0.1% OOS rate — still 31 times the volume of the texting code, with the same negligible OOS rate.
What sets 392.82A1 apart from those high-volume neighbors is not frequency — it is the severity weight. At CSA weight 10, a single texting citation hits harder on your Unsafe Driving BASIC than most violations in this category. The data says you are less likely to get cited for this than for general moving violations, but when you are cited, the CSA damage is at the maximum level.
How to avoid it
The co-occurring violation patterns in our 90-day data reveal something important: officers who write 392.82A1 citations are not just flagging the phone. They are doing thorough inspections. Here is what the co-occurrence data tells you to have buttoned up before and during every trip:
-
Put the phone away before you move. This sounds obvious, but 392.82A1 citations exist in our database because drivers made this choice at speed. Use a phone mount with voice activation if you need navigation, and silence notifications before you pull out of the yard.
-
Buckle up, every time. Our data shows 39 shared inspections in the last 90 days where 392.16 (failure to use a seat belt) was cited alongside 392.82A1. An inspector who catches you on the phone will look for the belt too.
-
Verify your periodic inspection documentation is on the truck. Code 396.17C (no proof of periodic inspection) appeared in 28 shared inspections in the same 90-day window. If you get pulled over for the phone, missing paperwork becomes a second violation instantly.
-
Do not drive fatigued. Code 392.2RG co-occurred in 27 shared inspections over the last 90 days. An inspector already suspicious of distracted behavior will be watching your eyes and your driving pattern for signs of fatigue.
-
Check every lamp before departure. Codes 393.9 (inoperable required lamp) and 393.9H (inoperable headlamps) appeared in 23 and 12 shared inspections respectively. Freightliner and Volvo units make up the top two cited vehicle makes — with 994 and 464 all-time citations — and both platforms are known for electrical gremlins that can take out marker and clearance lamps. Walk the full perimeter during pre-trip and test every light.
-
Check your windshield. Code 393.78 (defective windshield condition) appeared in 11 shared inspections in the last 90 days. A cracked or obstructed windshield is a fast secondary write-up once you are already on the inspector's radar.
The pattern is clear: an inspector writing 392.82A1 is conducting a thorough Level I or Level II inspection. Go into every trip with a clean truck and complete paperwork, because the phone citation is rarely the only one that ends up on the report.