A commercial vehicle brake safety symposium sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) will be held Dec. 5-7 at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis at State Capitol in Indianapolis, Ind.

The symposium will bring together vehicle and component manufacturers, carriers, fleet managers, technicians, law enforcement, crash investigators, regulators, academics, drivers and driver trainers to develop strategies on commercial vehicle brake-related issues.
Among the issues:
• Operation Air Brake enforcement data shows that of the more than 1.5 million brakes inspected, 17 percent of all commercial vehicles inspected are placed out of service for brake-related defects;
• In a 2003 study of commercial driver knowledge on brakes conducted through Operation Air Brake, of the 4,055 drivers surveyed only 15 (0.37 percent) provided correct responses to the questions regarding brake adjustment;
• Arguably the largest study ever conducted on large truck crashes — the 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study — indicated that brakes were a factor in 29.4 percent of all the crashes investigated;
• The National Transportation Safety Board continues to discover in its crash investigations a number of concerns regarding the inspection, maintenance and operation of braking systems on commercial vehicles.

Conference participants will hear from experts in the different aspects of brake engineering/ design, vehicle operation, inspection, maintenance, crash investigation, liability issues, regulations/compliance and enforcement.
The symposium will inform participants on the various resources available to them, explain the latest in regulatory changes and what is on the horizon, provide the latest information on technology advancements in the industry as well as for enforcement, illustrate best practices for inspection, maintenance and operation of braking systems and provide relevant data/statistics on various aspects of brake compliance and safety. Participants will walk away from the symposium with a wealth of information through presentations, best practices, a CD and printed materials that will help them in their jobs and ultimately will help save lives.
The complete program brochure is available on the CVSA web site at www.cvsa.org.