13.5% of Vehicles Inspected During Brake Safety Week Placed Out of Service
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About 13.5% of commercial motor vehicles inspected in the U.S. and Canada during 2019 Brake Safety Week in September were removed from roadways for brake-related violations, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced Nov. 12.
During the event conducted Sept. 15-20, inspectors checked 34,320 commercial vehicles, placing 4,626 out of service for critical brake violations.
Inspectors conducted 34,320 CMV inspections as part of Brake Safety Week and placed 4,626 CMVs out of service after critical brake-related conditions were identified. The majority (86.5%) did not have any critical brake-related inspection item violations. https://t.co/I44lebg0Fs pic.twitter.com/T0ErFN70Mt
— CVSA (@CVSA) November 12, 2019
The overall majority of commercial motor vehicles inspected, or 86.5%, did not have critical brake-related inspection item violations, CVSA said.
CVSA said that 60 jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S. participated in 2019 Brake Safety Week. In the U.S., 49 jurisdictions conducted 31,864 roadside inspections and placed 4,344 (13.6%) out of service due to brake-related violations. In Canada, 11 jurisdictions conducted 2,456 roadside inspections, placing 282 or 11.5% of CMVs inspected out of service for brake-related violations.
Samis
“Inspectors conduct more than 4 million roadside inspections every year, and checking brake components is just one element of the inspection procedure inspectors perform on commercial motor vehicles every day,” said CVSA President John Samis, a sergeant with the Delaware State Police.
As part of this year’s Brake Safety Week, inspectors also collected and reported data on brake hoses and tubing, documenting the following results:
• 2,567 units had chafed rubber hose violations.
• 1,347 units had chafed thermoplastic hose violations.
• 2,704 violations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations and Canadian equivalent violations included chafed rubber hoses.
• 1,683 violations of the U.S. federal regulations and Canadian equivalent violations included kinked thermoplastic hoses.
Brake Safety Week is an inspection, enforcement, education and awareness initiative that is part of the Operation Airbrake Program sponsored by CVSA in partnership with FMCSA and the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators.
During an unannounced one-day brake event May 15, inspectors removed more than 1,600 CMVs from roadways in the U.S. and Canada for critical brake-related violations, or 16% out-of-service rate in the U.S. and 13.5% out-of service rate in Canada, CVSA said.
During Brake Safety Week in September 2018, inspectors in the U.S. and Canada conducted 35,080 inspections on commercial motor vehicles, putting nearly 5,000 CMVs, or 14.1% of those inspected, out of service.
Last year, about 1 out of 7 trucks and buses inspected during a one-day special brake safety law enforcement effort were placed out of service for brake-related violations, according to CVSA. About 14%, or 1,064, were put out of service due to brake problems in the single-day operation.
“Whether you’re driving a commercial motor vehicle or inspecting one, we all know the importance of properly functioning brakes,” CVSA President Scott Carnegie, a lieutenant with the Mississippi Highway Patrol, said last year. “It is essential that we — law enforcement, drivers and motor carriers — do all that we can to ensure only the safest commercial motor vehicles are being operated by professional drivers on our roadways.”
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