Brake Safety Week Places More than 5,000 Trucks Out of Service

According to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, this year’s Brake Safety Week saw 12% of the 43,565 commercial motor vehicles inspected placed out of service for brake-related violations.

Inspectors from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico removed 5,156 commercial motor vehicles from service due to brake violations during the week-long inspection and enforcement event, which focused on reducing brake-related crashes for the 2020 event.

A total of 53 jurisdictions participated between August 23-29, 2020, conducting inspections following each agency’s health and safety protocols and precautions in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In the U.S., 35,778 inspections were conducted with 4,565 vehicles (13%) placed out of service for brake-related violations. In Mexico, the number dropped to 6% (355) of the 5,958 violations, while Canadian officials conducted 1,829 inspections with a brake-related out-of-service rate of 14% (256).

In addition to capturing brake system out-of-service violation data, inspectors also submitted data regarding brake hose chafing violations, which are separated into five categories based on the level of severity, two of which are out-of-service conditions. A total of 6,697 hose chafing violations were reported during the event.

Last year’s his year’s Brake Safety Week reported 13.5% of 34,320 vehicles placed out of service for critical brake-related violations identified during roadside inspections. Mexico was not included in last year’s results, which may account to the increase in the total number of violations during this year’s event.