The results from September’s Brake Safety Day inspection event, organized by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, show that 1,064 vehicles were placed out of service due to brake-related violations.

That amounted to 14% of the 7,698 vehicles inspected in the U.S. and Canada, which is a slightly higher rate of out of service violations than in the unannounced Brake Safety Day event earlier this year, which put 12% of vehicles out of service for brake-related issues.

The rate of out of service violations for any violation was 22%, 1,680 vehicles, compared to 21% in the unannounced Brake Safety Day.

The goal of Brake Safety Day is to conduct roadside inspections and identify and remove vehicles with critical brake violations from roadways to reduce the number of crashes caused by or made more severe by brake system deficiencies on commercial motor vehicles. Both Brake Safety Day events replace the seven-day Brake Safety Week campaign from previous years.

"Brake-related violations are the largest percentage of all out-of-service violations cited during roadside inspections. CVSA’s Brake Safety Day provides an opportunity enhance brake safety," said Capt. Christopher Turner with the Kansas Highway Patrol, CVSA president. "Our goal is to reduce the number of crashes caused by faulty braking systems, by conducting roadside inspections, educating drivers, mechanics, owner-operators and others on the importance of proper brake inspection and maintenance."

Brake Safety Day also captured data on how well antilock braking systems are maintained in accordance with federal regulations. Many participating jurisdictions surveyed ABS compliance. ABS violations were counted when the malfunction lamp did not work or the malfunction lamp stayed on, indicating a fault of some kind.

Inspectors noted that 5,456 total air-braked trucks required ABS, with 11% of those receiving ABS violations. This is slightly up from the unannounced Brake Safety Day that found 8% of ABS-equipped trucks with violations. Trailers with ABS had a higher violation rate of 14%, which was down slightly from earlier in the year.

Hydraulic-braked trucks requiring ABS totaled 821 vehicles, with 5% having ABS violations and 49 buses required ABS, with 10% having ABS violations.

Brake Safety Day is part of the Operation Airbrake Program sponsored by CVSA in partnership with the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) and the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.