Daily Archives: October 1, 2015

Van Freight Rates Fall 2¢, but Demand Is Up in the Northwest

Roadcheck 2015 results: Lowest rates of out-of-service violations since 1991

The results are in, and the 2015 edition of International Roadcheck resulted in the lowest rates of out-of-service violations since the event started keeping records in 1991, according to the international association of commercial vehicle enforcement agencies.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, which sponsors the three-day commercial vehicle enforcement operation in the U.S. and Canada, announced the results via press release on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

From June 2 to June 4, commercial motor vehicle inspectors across North America completed 69,472 truck and bus inspections. Of the 69,472 total inspections during this year’s Roadcheck, 44,989 were North American Standard Level I Inspections, which is the most thorough roadside inspection. A CVSA spokesman confirmed for Land Line that no Mexican authorities participated in this year’s enforcement campaign.

Of Level I Inspections, inspectors found 1,623 or 3.6 percent of drivers and 9,732 or 21.6 percent of vehicles with out-of-service (OOS) violations, historically the lowest rates for which CVSA has data, back to 1991, according to the release. Of all inspections, 777 seat belt violations were issued.

Brake adjustment and brake systems were the top OOS violations for vehicles in 2015, accounting for 43 percent of all vehicle violations. Hours-of-service violations were the top violation for drivers, accounting for 46 percent of all violations.

Each year, International Roadcheck places special emphasis on a category of violations. The special emphasis for 2015 was cargo securement. During the event, inspectors issued 2,439 violations for load securement. The leading load securement violations, by number of violations issued, were:

Failure to prevent shifting/loss of load;
Failure to secure truck equipment (tarps, dunnage, doors, tailgates, spare tires);
Damaged tie downs (typically unacceptable wear on chain or cuts and tears on web straps);
Insufficient tie downs; and
Loose tie downs. Load securement enforcement is a normal part of Level I Inspections, but securing cargo and equipment are vital to safe operations.
“CVSA’s International Roadcheck is the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial motor vehicles in the world, with nearly 17 trucks or buses inspected, on average, every minute, over three days,” said Collin B. Mooney, CVSA acting executive director. “However, we must remember that the work done over that 72-hour period represents only a fraction of what’s accomplished every day by approximately 13,000 CVSA-certified local, state, provincial, territorial and federal inspectors at hundreds of inspection locations across North America.”
Since its inception in 1988, International Roadcheck has performed more than 1.4 million inspections. Learn more about International Roadcheck here.

Facts at a glance

2015 driver inspection results (per CVSA)
All inspections that included drivers: 95.2 percent of drivers had no OOS violations, and 4.8 percent were placed out of service (4.8 percent were out of service in 2014).
Level I inspections: 96.4 percent of drivers had no OOS violations, and 3.6 percent were placed out of service (4.0 percent were out of service in 2014).
HazMat: 98.5 percent of drivers carrying HM had no OOS violations, and 1.5 percent were placed out of service (3 percent were out of service in 2014).
Passenger carrying vehicles: 98.1 percent of drivers had no OOS violations, and 1.9 percent were placed out of service (3.9 percent were placed out of service in 2014).

Vehicle results for 2015 were as follows:
All inspections that included vehicles: 82.5 percent of vehicles had no OOS violations, and 17.5 percent were placed out of service (18.7 percent were out of service in 2014).
Level I inspections: 78.4 percent of vehicles had no OOS violations, and 21.6 percent were placed out of service (23 percent were out of service in 2014).
HazMat inspections: 88.5 percent of vehicles carrying HM had no OOS violations, and 11.5 percent were placed out of service (16 percent were out of service in 2014).
Passenger-carrying vehicles: 92.4 percent of vehicles had no OOS violations, and 7.6 percent were placed out of service (9.3 percent were out of service in 2014).