The 2020 International Roadcheck of heavy trucks conducted over 72 hours in Mexico, Canada and the United States resulted in an overall vehicle out-of-service rate of 20.9% compared to 17.9% in 2019.
Although the total number of vehicles and drivers inspected were fewer than last year because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the percentages point to a deterioration in overall trucking safety.
More than 50,000 North American inspections took place last year, compared to 67,072 conducted in 2019, largely because of the Covid 19 pandemic.
The continent-wide roadside inspections were organized by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and conducted Sept. 9-11 by state and provincial law enforcement personnel. The program has been in existence since 1988. CVSA says the next fullscale roadcheck is scheduled to be conducted May 4-6, 2021
The top five equipment violations were brake systems (25.8%), tires (19%), lights (13.5%), cargo securement (12.9%) followed closely by brake adjustment (12.8%).
The 2020 Roadcheck featured a special focus on driver qualifications, which led to a total of 3,247 drivers being taken off the road..
The top driver violations reported were hours of service (34.7%); “other,” including moving violations and cell phone use (21.8%); wrong class license (21.2%); false logs (14%); and suspended license (4.3%). The total U.S. number of out-of-service driver violations were 3,072. (Notice that findings of drug and alcohol use did not make it into the top five this year.)
Although seatbelt violations did not result in drivers being placed out of service, a total of 768 seatbelt violation citations also were issued.
Of the 2,288 inspections in the U.S. of vehicles hauling hazardous materials, a total of 173 were placed out of service. The hazmat vehicle out-of-service rate was 12% and driver rate was 1.4%.