Fifty-four roadside inspectors from across North America are competing to become the best commercial vehicle inspector during the annual North American Inspectors Championship this week in Houston.


The event, sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, is held in conjunction with the American Trucking Associations National Truck Driving Championship.

NAIC's purpose is to recognize the inspector for demonstrating inspector excellence. The goals are to provide contestants with education on the latest commercial vehicle safety issues, promote uniformity of inspections throughout North America, challenge contestants using real world scenarios, provide CVSA with a snapshot of the current inspection environment, strengthen the industry and enforcement partnerships and promote camaraderie between inspectors, jurisdictions and countries.

NAIC contestants are evaluated in the following seven categories:

1. North American Standard Level I Inspection
2. North American Standard Level I Inspection Procedures
3. North American Standard HAZMAT/Transportation of Dangerous Goods Inspection
4. North American Standard Cargo Tank/Other Bulk Packagings Inspection
5. North American Standard Level V Passenger Vehicle Inspection
6. North American Standard Personal Interview
7. North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria Exam

All of the inspection categories are timed events and the compilation of scores for these categories result in a Grand Champion. In addition to a Grand Champion, awards are given for first, second and third place for selected inspection events.