The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) recently received national awards for two major commercial vehicle safety programs — Operation Airbrake and the North American Inspectors Championship.

CVSA received a similar award for the annual 72-hour Roadcheck, which focuses on roadside truck and bus inspections.
These awards were presented by the American Society of Assn. Executives. CVSA’s programs focus on commercial vehicle and driver safety programs, and draw the public’s attention to the combined efforts of law enforcement and the truck and bus industries to save lives on North American highways.
Operation Air Brake is a brake safety campaign sponsored by CVSA, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration and Transport Canada. In addition to the roadside brake inspections, Operation Air Brake is intended to enhance drivers’ and motor carriers’ knowledge of brake compliance and vehicle brake performance, make sure applicable brake system inspection requirements are followed and encourage regular commercial vehicle brake system inspections throughout North America.
The North American Inspectors Championship gives inspectors from Canada, the United States and Mexico an opportunity to compete for honors in several major safety inspection fields. The championship also promotes uniformity in inspections, enhances the quality of inspections and serves as a training forum that encourages inspectors to share best practices in commercial vehicle inspections.
The annual roadcheck is conducted for 72 consecutive hours throughout North America. About 9,000 inspectors are involved in this event. Teams of truck and bus safety inspectors staff inspection sites along major highways. In addition, roving patrols inspect commercial vehicles traveling other highways.
Since 1991, Roadcheck statistics show that the out-of-service rates for vehicles and drivers are declining. Also, the fatality rate for crashes involving commercial vehicles has dropped from 3.2 per million miles to 2.4 – a decline of 25%.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (formed in 1982) includes all 50 states and U.S. territories (State Police, Highway Patrols, Public Service Commissions), all Canadian provinces and territories and Mexico. Associate members include truck and bus industry organizations and individuals that play an active, supportive role in improving commercial vehicle and hazardous materials transportation safety.