72-Hour Truck Inspection Blitz Set For June 3-5

The annual three-day roadside commercial vehicle safety crackdown known as Roadcheck will focus this year on cargo securement and educating drivers about the upcoming changes in hours of service regulations.

The event, organized by the truck safety officials group the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, involves thousands of CVSA-certified local, state and federal commercial vehicle inspections fanning out across North America at some 1,500 locations, June 3-5.

“We want to encourage understanding by drivers and carrier managers of the driver and vehicle regulations, to conduct inspections, and issue violations where necessary,” says William P. Schaefer, director, vehicle programs, CVSA. “We collect vehicle, driver, and hazardous materials inspection violation data for comparison to previous years.”

He says part of the effort will also include distributing visor cards, provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, that outline the new driver hours of service regulations effective July 1, 2013. Those regulations are currently undergoing a legal challenge, but there is no guarantee a court will rule on it by time the new rules take effect.

Since the first Roadcheck in 1988, more than a million roadside inspections have been conducted during the events. Last year 74,072 truck and bus inspections were performed during Roadcheck. Of those inspections, 48,815 were North American Standard Level 1 inspections, the most comprehensive roadside inspection. Of those, 22.4% of vehicles and 3.9% of drivers were placed out of service, both near historic lows.

CVSA offers a checklist of safety tips of what to check out on trucks, which are many of the same items inspectors will be looking for.