CVSA Plans Vote on Roadside Brake-Testing Devices

n official with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance told Transport Topics the group will vote next year on whether to include performance-based brake-testing devices as an enforcement tool during roadside truck inspections.

Steve Keppler, CVSA’s director of policy and programs, said a vote for the devices would allow inspectors to use results from automated brake-testing machines to put trucks out of service starting in 2008. He said a vote could come as early as the spring.

“This is a hot topic within our organization. There are a lot of views on the subject, but from a technical standpoint, we’ve seen that this [technology] works,” Keppler said. “We need to go through our own process to adopt these [devices] into the out-of-service criteria.”