The Commercial Vehicle Safety Administration has revealed that results from its unannounced Brake Safety Day inspection event shows that the majority of vehicles (79%) inspected did not have any critical item vehicle violations. 

The results showed that in 9,524 inspections conducted, the 79% of fleets did not have any critical item vehicle violations. Of those inspections, 8,140 were conducted in the U.S., and 1,384 took place in Canada.

The goal of Brake Safety Day was to conduct roadside inspections and identify and remove vehicles with critical brake violations from the road in an effort to reduce the number of crashes caused or made more severe by poorly maintained braking systems on commercial vehicles.

During the event, 21% of all inspections resulted in a vehicle being placed out of service for violations with 12% of all inspections resulting in a brake-related violation that put a vehicle out of service.

The event also sought to evaluate how well ABS are maintained in accordance with federal regulations. Many participating jurisdictions surveyed ABS compliance finding:

• 4,635 air-braked trucks and tractors were identified as requiring ABS; 8% (391) had ABS violations.

• 3,222 trailers were identified as requiring ABS; 15% (487) had ABS violations.

• 723 hydraulic-braked trucks required ABS; 6% (41) had ABS violations.

• 57 buses required ABS; 11% (6) had ABS violations.

CVSA’s Operation Airbrake Program is holding one more brake safety enforcement event this year. The next Brake Safety Day event will take place on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, at participating jurisdictions throughout Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

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 U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.