Roadcheck Inspectors Check Trucks at 2,000 Sites to Promote Safety in U.S., Canada, Mexico

This story appears in the June 14 print edition of Transport Topics.

LANDOVER, Md. — Their hands covered with black grease, inspectors spent hours on their backs under truck chassis, listened for air leaks in brake lines and squinted over countless driver certifications at Roadcheck this year.

For three days, commercial vehicles were pulled over for inspection at 2,000 sites across North America during the annual event, which formally kicked off June 8 at FedEx Field here.

Shortly after dawn that day, Maryland State Police began pulling trucks — 900 in all — off Interstate 95/495.

Even as the trucks were rolling into the stadium parking lot, they were undergoing inspection by state police officers with handheld thermal imagers measuring the heat in the wheels.

“If a brake’s working, it has to be hot,” said State Police Capt. Bill Dofflemyer, commander of commercial vehicle enforcement.

Most of the trucks were dismissed after quick checks, but 411 were subjected to the meticulous, grill-to-cargo-door inspections that Anne Ferro, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has watched for years.

“They never get old,” said Ferro, who also is a former head of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and former president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association.

FMCSA co-sponsors Roadcheck with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, a national organization of state, county and federal commercial vehicle inspectors.

“It’s just a remarkable level of effort and commitment — and, frankly, planning — to pull something like this off and be safe and get everybodysafer as a result,” Ferro said.

She thrust her head under trucks along with the inspectors.

“My gosh, look at that,” she said, peering at a small bald spot on an inside back trailer tire.

Nationwide, crash fatalities involving trucks have declined four years in a row, and last year’s Roadcheck event set records for safety-belt and overall driver compliance.

“The numbers are showing that we’re having an impact,” Ferro said, “and it’s really through CVSA’s leadership and our frontline leadership with enforcement around the country” that is getting the message through to carriers that are not operating as safely, while also recognizing the fleets that are.

For drivers, roadside inspections can be proud or stressful occasions.

Driver Alfonso Parra of Pocatello, Idaho, beamed after inspectors checked his rig, which was hauling hazardous materials from Boston to Texas.

“We didn’t find any violations, and we had quite a team on this guy,” said inspector Brian Cosgrove of the Maryland Department of Environment, who works with the state police.

Parra received a special 2010 Roadcheck sticker.

“When they give you a sticker,” he said, “it means you pass everything with flying colors.”

Parra also said he has been driving for 22 years and has never been cited.

“It’s not about luck,” he said. “It’s about paying attention, slowing down, not getting in a hurry.”

Driver Pavel Kalinovskiy appeared nervous as he climbed down from his cab.

The Russian-immigrant driver relaxed, however, after inspectors said his certification, medical documents and cargo records were in order. Kalinovskiy was on his way back to his employer’s terminal in Northern California.

“You never know, you drive and something happens while you’re on the road,” he said as inspectors swarmed over his rig.

The truck was cited for a few minor violations, including a nonworking indicator light and a brake air hose that was too close to the frame, but he was allowed to head back onto the highway.

For commercial vehicle safety inspectors, Roadcheck is an opportunity to highlight their public service.

Until three-and-a-half years ago, William Seifert, a civilian state police inspector, was a truck driver himself.

“When you find a vehicle that’s in real bad shape that you wouldn’t want behind your family, it’s a lot of self-recognition to put somebody out of service for that and make them fix it,” Seifert said.

Steven Kirkwood has been an inspector for 13 years.

“When people ask me what I do, I [say I] do public safety,” Kirkwood said. “My primary function is to take unsafe drivers off the road.”

In Maryland, 30% of the trucks inspected annually are put out of service, said Dofflemyer. The percentage is higher than in most states because Maryland is a “target rich environment” due to heavy freight traffic along the eastern seaboard, Dofflemyer said.

At the six-hour inspection kickoff in Maryland, 107 vehicles (26% of the 411 that received intensive inspections) were placed out of service, the state police reported.

Those trucks were not permitted to continue their trips until the violations were fixed. Police said that 136 citations and 320 warnings were issued during the event.