Tire Safety to Be Focus of CVSA Roadcheck
This story appears in the April 18 print edition of Transport Topics.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s 2016 International Roadcheck will take place June 7-9, with an emphasis on tire safety inspections.
The annual three-day inspection blitz will unfold at hundreds of locations throughout North America, including a kickoff event in Howard County, Maryland.
Approximately 10,000 CVSA-certified local, state, provincial, territorial and federal inspectors will check large trucks and buses during the world’s biggest targeted-enforcement program for commercial motor vehicles.
During the event, nearly 17 trucks or buses are inspected, on average, every minute in Canada, the United States and Mexico during a 72-hour period. Drivers are required to provide their license, endorsements, medical card and hours-of-service documentation. They also may be checked for seat belt usage and the use of alcohol and drugs.
“We’re able to raise awareness and the importance of keeping vehicles maintained,” said William Schaefer, CVSA’s director of vehicle programs.
“We’re aware that there are drivers and carriers who try to avoid the road during [Roadcheck], so we may not be getting a representative sample of everyone who’s on the road. On the other hand, it might be reminding drivers, owner-operators and carriers to check their vehicles out beforehand. If they wouldn’t have done that otherwise and make a repair, then we’ve improved safety.”
When inspectors perform the usual 37-step North American Standard Level I Inspection, an emphasis will be placed on checking tire pressure, making sure no items are lodged between dual tires and that no deep cuts or bulges exist in the tires’ sidewalls, CVSA said.
Schaefer said that tires were the chief culprits in the out-of-service violations on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s list in 2015. Of the tire violations, audible air leaks were second and exposed fabric was fourth.
Those statistics helped prompt CVSA to emphasize tire safety this year.
“The focus on tires seems appropriate since brakes, lights and tires are the three issues that law enforcement looks at,” said Steve Bryan, founder and CEO of Vigillo, an industry vendor that mines the data from FMCSA’s Compliance Safety, Accountability program.
Grant DeGeorge, secretary of the Technology & Maintenance Council, said while tire safety has improved during the past decade, it remains an issue.
“Tires are a very serious issue because of the high pressure that’s involved,” DeGeorge said. “Proper maintenance of the wheels and tires is so important. Tires should be checked frequently for failure modes, things that you’re supposed to look for to maintain safety, not only for the drivers, but for everybody else on the road.”
The vehicle inspection also includes the braking, exhaust and fuel systems, securement of cargo, coupling devices frame, lights, steering mechanism, driveline-driveshaft, suspension, van and open-top trailer bodies, wheels and rims and windshield wipers, according to CVSA.
More than 1.4 million roadside inspections have been conducted since International Roadcheck was established in 1988.
CVSA sponsors International Roadcheck with participation by the FMCSA, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada and the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation in Mexico.
