Improvement, a positive step towards safer highways

The time of year most truckers believe to be the worst is when the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) conducts it's annual Road Check program. Road Check is the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial vehicles in the world. This year approximately 17 trucks or buses were inspected, on average, every minute from Canada to Mexico during Road Check 2009. (the 72-hour period from June 2-4, 2009) Annoying as it may be for drivers, the program is a very positive necessity. Truthfully, as a veteran driver myself, I can attest that many drivers spend a lot of time trying to dodge such inspections. Reality, DOT officers know this and even attempt to foil these drivers diversions by patroling known routes that bypass scale/inspection locations. The risk does not outweigh the penalty for those drivers who are caught. If a scale/inspection station is open, drivers of commercial vehicles, must enter or pass through them. Smaller commercial vehicles may or may not have to enter if they not required by state laws. (states vary as to what is considered a commercial vehicle) An operation, the magnitude of Road Check, may cause longer delays at inspection sites and even some back ups on the highways as trucks wait on shoulders or entry ramps to pass through, but as we are about to reveal, the cause is a worthy one.

This year roadside inspectors focused on the North American Standard (NAS) Level I Inspection; Safety Belt enforcement; Motor coach and bus safety compliance; and, Unified Carrier Registration compliance. 9,700 CVSA and FMCSA certified inspectors at 2,148 locations across North America performed a record 72,782 truck and bus inspections. Of that total, there were 57,013 NAS Level I inspections, the most comprehensive roadside inspection. Both of these outputs are significant increases over previous records for the 22-year event. The total inspection output is a 7.1 percent increase over the previous record (2008), and the NAS Level I output is an 8.9 percent increase (2008). Darren Christle, CVSA’s President says, “If you look at the data it clearly shows when carriers prepare for safety they will benefit not only by avoiding fines but by saving lives. It can be said that Roadcheck 2009 saved 17 lives and helped to avoid 307 injuries. Over the course of an entire year that equals 2,068 lives saved and 37,352 injuries avoided. By any measure those are big numbers, and the enforcement community should be proud of its accomplishments in this regard.”

So, what were the results? We have posted the CVSA's summary below.

Driver results for the vehicle types were as follows:

• All inspections: 95.6 percent of drivers passed, and 4.4 percent were placed out of service (5.3 percent were out of service in 2008).
• All Level I inspections: 96.1 percent of drivers passed, and 3.9 percent were placed out of service (4.9 percent were out of service in 2008).
• Hazmat: 97.0 percent of drivers passed, and 3.0 percent were placed out of service (2.4 percent were out of service in 2008).
• Passenger carrying vehicles: 96.4 percent of drivers passed, and 3.6 percent were placed out of service (4.5 percent were out of service in 2008).

Vehicle results were as follows:

• All inspections: 80.4 percent of vehicles passed, and 19.6 percent were placed out of service (20.8 percent were out of service in 2008).

• All Level 1 inspections: 77.8 percent of drivers passed, and 22.2 percent were placed out of service (23.9 percent were out of service in 2008).

• Hazmat: 83.0 percent of vehicles passed the inspection, and 17.0 percent were placed out of service (17.6 percent were out of service in 2008).
• Passenger carrying vehicles: 88.5 percent of vehicles passed the inspection, and 11.5 percent were placed out of service (12.2 percent were out of service in 2008)
  
• Road Check 2009’s record total of overall inspections and Level I inspections showed significant declines in vehicle and driver OOS rates, as well as a significant drop in safety belt violations.ere out of service in 2008).

CVSA has other such events planned for 2009, such as Brake Safety Week '09 (Sept. 13-19) and Operation Safe Driver (Oct. 18-24). Drivers, transportation companies and the public can get this event information on-line at CVSA.org.

As a driver myself, I would like to congratulate my fellow truckers for a job well done! Since we are scrutinized heavily daily, it would seem that our image is tarnished. Events like this, that yield such positive improvement results, are a testament to our commitment to safer highways.

Keep it on the rubber and please join us as a follower. We WILL teach you something.