Roadcheck 2014 Summer Safety Enforcement Blitz Pulls 13,000 Semi-Trucks Out of Service

Every year for 27 years running, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) in conjunction with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) conducts a 72-hour safety enforcement blitz at about 2,500 locations across the United States, Canada and Mexico. This year’s event, conducted between June Third and Fifth, inspected 73,475 trucks and buses. As an outcome of the inspections, 18.7% of vehicles inspected – nearly one out of every five – were placed out-of-service (OOS) for vehicle safety issues. Given that there are several million tractor-trailers registered in the U.S. that weren’t inspected, if these inspections reflect conditions across the industry, at least 400,000 semis currently in service probably shouldn’t be.

The vast majority of big rig violations uncovered during Roadcheck were brake adjustment violations and brake system issues. Tire/wheel violations were also prevalent, accounting for 13.8% of OOS violations.

Somewhat more encouraging were the driver-focused inspections. Of the drivers inspected, only 4.8% were tagged with OOS violations. Nearly half of these involved hours of service (HOS) infractions. Despite generous, industry-influenced FMCSA regulations that allow truckers behind the wheel for 11 hours in a 14-hour workday across a six or seven day workweek, some truck drivers continue to push themselves to drive beyond what is legally allowable and safe.

Other reasons for placing drivers out-of-service included the fact that they were disqualified from driving or were found driving on a suspended license. Frighteningly, 13.7% of driver OOS placements were due to false logbook incidents uncovered during the inspections.

The good news is that in most areas, the number of OOS violations is actually down from last year, but clearly we still have a long way to go toward making commercial transportation and interstate trucking as safe as it can be.