The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) Roadcheck inspection blitz will take place June 4-6. During that 72-hour period, enforcement officials in the United States, Canada, and Mexico will randomly stop and inspect nearly 70,000 trucks, trailers, buses, and their drivers.
Roadcheck is well publicized but it still catches truckers off guard. Here’s what you should know:
1. Roadcheck 2019 is June 4-6
Roadcheck is the largest targeted enforcement program for commercial motor vehicles in the world. It’s an annual event organized by the CVSA, an organization of motor vehicle safety enforcement officials.
2. All trucks and drivers are inspected to the same standard
The type of inspections performed during Roadcheck are the same ones that take place any other day of the year at roadside inspection stations. It’s called the North American Standard Level I Inspection, a 37-step examination of the vehicle and driver. This helps ensure a uniform inspection procedure of vehicles and their drivers, no matter the state, province, jurisdiction, or territory.
CVSA has information about various inspection criterial on its web site (https://cvsa.org/inspections/inspections/out-of-service-criteria/) and sells the North American Standard Out of Service Criteria in handbook form. It also publishes a free brochure that covers the basics (http://cvsa.org/wp-content/uploads/NASI-Program-Brochure.pdf).
3. Brakes and HOS are the top out-of-service violations
Enforcement officials performed 67,603 inspections during Roadcheck 2018, and nearly 22% of vehicles that received a Level I inspection were placed out of service. Brakes were the No. 1 cause of violations.
Only 4% of drivers were placed out of service, with 44% of violations due to a logbook or hours-of-service infraction.
An out-of-service violation must be corrected in order for the vehicle or driver to be permitted to proceed. It can also affect a carrier’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) score. This can increase the likelihood of a more comprehensive compliance review and affect a carrier’s standing with customers.
If no violations are found, the officer will issue a decal as a visual indicator that the vehicle successfully passed inspection.
4. Focus on ELD Compliance
Every Level I inspection begins with the driver. Enforcement officials will look for a valid license, medical certificates, vehicle inspection records, bills of lading, seat belt use, and sickness, fatigue, and any possible alcohol or drug impairment.
With full ELD compliance scheduled for December 16, 2019, officials will verify the following:
– The ELD is registered with FMCSA, either by going to the FMCSA list or retrieving the ELD data during the file transfer.
– The device is integrally synchronized with the vehicle.
– The ELD can display records of duty status (RODS) for the last seven days, plus the current day.
– The driver can produce a supply of blank driver’s RODS graph-grids on paper sufficient to record duty status for at least eight days.
– The driver can demonstrate the use of the device.
– The ELD can display or print a copy of the driver’s RODS at the time of the inspection.
– The driver has access to the ELD manual with instructions describing, in detail, how to store and retrieve data from the recording system. These documents can also be found on the Transflo website, and are available in electronic format within the Transflo Mobile+ app (under Required Documents):
– Transflo Telematics Roadside Inspection Card (https://www.transflo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Roadside-Inspection-Card-Inspeccion-de-Carretera-_01122018.pdf)
– Transflo Telematics Diagnostic and Malfunction Events (https://www.transflo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Transflo-Telematics-Diagnostic-and-Malfunction-Events.pdf)
– Transflo Telematics Manual (link to electronic manual)
With these helpful tips, drivers should have what they need to successfully make it through the ELD portion of any roadside inspection, including Roadcheck 2019. For more information, visit the Transflo ELD Support Center (https://www.transflo.com/transflo-eld-support-center/) for other great tools.