Commentary: 'Secrets' of Roadside Inspections

By Nance Harris, Editor, The Nebraska Trucker

In September 1998, the Nebraska State Patrol Carrier Enforcement Division staged surprise truck inspections in Norfolk, Neb. Some truckers were indeed surprised. There were a total of 527 violations that cost $7,760 in fines. The local media picked up the story and ran with it, to the dismay of Nebraska trucking members. Surprise inspections in Grand Island and Hastings in 1998 and 1999 yielded similar numbers of violations and a higher fine total.

“The trucking industry gets a lot of negative attention from the news media,” observed Jim Wordekemper, maintenance supervisor at Affiliated Carriers in Norfolk. “With this many maintenance professionals coming in to see what it takes to have safe equipment on the road, you know safety is an important issue on their minds.”

Wordekemper was speaking as the host of one of two special Nebraska Trucking Maintenance Council programs. On Oct. 15 in Norfolk, his company had nearly 150 maintenance directors, technicians and diesel tech students in the truck shop for “The Secrets of Roadside Inspections.”

The program involves carrier enforcement officers presenting a full truck inspection as they would do it at the scale or by the roadside. The officers talk their way through the inspection, including brake adjustment, so maintenance pros can see exactly what goes on.

“The problem comes from not having a clear picture of what they perceive as a violation on the trucks running out on the road,” Wordekemper said. So Affiliated furnished two full-length bays in the truck shop for four officers to conduct inspections.

“It was a good experience for all that attended,” he continued. “We were able to see what the inspector was looking for, as well as ask why it should be a violation or why it should pass their inspection.”

The program was repeated for a crowd of 50 maintenance professionals on Nov. 3 at Sunrise Express in Grand Island.

Max Richeson, general manager of Arrow Seed in Broken Bow, was among those who attended the November presentation. “I took a driver with me, so he knows the specific things he needs to safety check before he leaves,” Richeson said. “It was good information and a great turnout. But we were there three hours and never made it to the final demonstration. Once people got to asking questions, we ran out of time!”

Lloyd Mueller of Bosselman’s Travel Center also attended in Grand Island. He thought the program provided good information, but he would like to see “The Secrets of Roadside Inspections” made into a brochure with photos. “That would be helpful,” he suggested, “because then you could see exactly what they’re looking at, exactly how much brake pad thickness is left, exactly how the brake adjustment ought to look.”

One point of these programs is to give maintenance professionals and safety directors the chance to “experience” a routine roadside inspection, because most know about the process based only on driver reports after the fact. Mueller agreed that one of the benefits of the demonstration was actually meeting the inspectors.

“They aren’t nearly as bad as the drivers tell us they are!” he exclaimed with a laugh.