Commercial enforcement conducted 48,761 inspections during this year’s International Roadcheck. 77% of commercial trucks and 95.2% of commercial drivers had no out-of-service violations.
Commercial enforcement personnel in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. conducted 48,761 inspections during this year’s International Roadcheck, which took place May 14-16. The good news is that 77% of commercial trucks and 95.2% of commercial drivers had no out-of-service violations.
On the other hand, inspectors discovered 13,567 vehicle, 2,714 driver and 163 hazardous materials/dangerous goods out-of-service (OOS) violations, and placed 9,345 commercial vehicle combinations and 2,290 drivers out of service. The total overall vehicle OOS rate was 23%, and the driver OOS rate was 4.8%. The largest category of vehicle violations was defective brakes which were 25% of OOS actions. Hours of Services violations led the driver OOS at 32.1%.
Each year, International Roadcheck places special emphasis on a category of vehicle violations and a category of driver violations. The vehicle emphasis area this year was on tractor protection systems (TPS), including:
Inspectors identified 564 TPS-related violations on commercial motor vehicle combinations. Tractor protection systems safeguard the tractor’s air supply and prevent air loss when the tractor is not connected to a trailer or if the trailer breaks away.
International Roadcheck is a three-day commercial motor vehicle and driver inspection, enforcement and data-gathering initiative. Law enforcement jurisdictions throughout North America voluntarily participate in International Roadcheck with support from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada, and Mexico’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation.
No driver plans for a breakdown, but every driver should be ready for one. Mechanical issues, tire failures, or other unexpected problems can happen when you least expect it. Knowing how to safely bring your vehicle to a stop and protect yourself and others can help keep a minor inconvenience from becoming a serious incident.
For truckers, testing for marijuana continues. Just as with testing for cocaine, amphetamines, PCP, and opioids, testing for marijuana will continue to be conducted on a pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, and return-to-duty basis.
As temperatures rise, so do the risks associated with tires, brakes, and overall vehicle condition. Summer heat doesn’t just stress drivers, it amplifies mechanical weaknesses, making maintenance and inspections more important than ever.