Why This Matters to ICSA Members
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s national Brake Safety Week will be in full force August 24–30. We strongly suggest you begin planning now to take care of brake maintenance and repair so your trucks will be ready.
Commercial vehicle inspectors throughout the U.S. (plus Canada and Mexico) will focus on brake systems and components with an emphasis on brake linings and pads, common causes of out-of-service violations.
Inspectors will be on the lookout for missing, cracked, or excessively worn brake linings or pads. Vehicles found with brake-related violations may be placed out of service until repairs are made. Read the results of the 2024 Brake Safety Week below to see why it’s critical that your trucks are ready to be inspected.
Brake-related violations are consistently among the top reasons trucks are sidelined during inspections. During Brake Safety Week 2024, commercial vehicle officers inspected 16,725 commercial motor vehicles across North America. Of those, nearly 13% were placed out of service for brake-related violations. Inspectors found a total of 654 brake lining and pad violations., with drivers in the U.S. accounting for 482 of the lining or pad issues. These results show the need for routine brake maintenance, as brake-related problems are a major safety problem.
Staying ahead of maintenance not only helps avoid downtime and fines but also keeps drivers and everyone else on the road safer. Start preparing now by reviewing maintenance records, conducting thorough pre-trip inspections, and ensuring your brake systems meet federal and state standards. We’ll be sharing tools and reminders throughout August to help you stay ready for inspection.
Learn more about this year’s Brake Safety Week at https://cvsa.org/news/2025-bsw/.
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.
The 2026 road construction season is going to be one of the largest in U.S. history and anyone using the roads should be prepared for what’s coming.