Inspectors Park More Than 5,600 CMVs During Brake Safety Week
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Commercial motor vehicle inspectors in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. conducted 35,764 inspections during Brake Safety Week, placing 12% of the vehicles inspected out of service due to critical brake-related conditions.
From Aug. 22-28, inspectors looked for brake-related issues at fixed weigh stations, temporary pop-up inspection sites and during roving roadway patrols, recording 5,667 brake hose chafing violations, this year’s special focus area, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.
“Properly functioning brakes may mean the difference between a catastrophic collision or the ability to avoid a crash,” CVSA President John Broers, a captain with the South Dakota Highway Patrol, said in an Oct. 20 statement.
Broers
Brake-related violations accounted for eight out of the top 20 vehicle violations in 2020, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data. Also, brake system and brake adjustment violations accounted for more out-of-service conditions than any other vehicle violation during CVSA’s three-day International Roadcheck inspection and enforcement initiative in May.
CVSA said 50 Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions, and Mexico’s National Guard and Ministry of Communications and Transportation participated in this year’s Brake Safety Week, a voluntary safety initiative.
In Canada, 1,903 commercial motor vehicles were inspected, with a brake-related out-of-service rate of 15.4%. The out-of-service rate related to brakes in the U.S. was 13.5% out of 28,694 CMVs inspected. In Mexico, 5,167 inspections were conducted with a brake-specific out-of-service rate of 2.6%.
Earlier this year, CVSA inspectors removed more than 1,200 commercial motor vehicles with critical brake violations from roadways during an unannounced single-day brake safety enforcement operation.
Inspectors in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. conducted 10,091 inspections during the May 26 unannounced operation, placing 1,273 vehicles out of service. Inspectors tracked and reported the data to CVSA for Brake Safety Day, the group’s inspection and enforcement initiative.
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CVSA said brakes continue to be one of the most important systems within a commercial motor vehicle. Yet, despite the industry’s knowledge of how crucial they are, brake-related violations continue to dominate vehicle out-of-service conditions.
Brake system violations also were the top vehicle out-of-service category during last year’s three-day International Roadcheck driver and vehicle enforcement safety initiative. The brake-related out-of-service rate in North America was 12.6%, CVSA said. The U.S. rate was 13.3%, Canada’s rate was 11.4%, and the Mexico rate was 2.9%.
The U.S. had the most violations by far, with 1,151 vehicles removed from the roadways.
The brake line violations during this year’s Brake Safety Week ranged from the relatively minor— those where the wear extends into outer protective material — to more serious out-of-service violations. Examples of those include when the ply is completely frayed, severed or cut through, and when wear extends through reinforcement ply to inner rubber layer.
Brake Safety Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake program, in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, and Mexico’s National Guard and Ministry of Communications and Transportation. Operation Airbrake is dedicated to improving commercial motor vehicle brake safety throughout North America. The goal is to reduce the number of crashes caused by faulty braking systems on commercial motor vehicles by conducting roadside inspections and educating drivers, mechanics, owner-operators and others on the importance of proper brake inspection, maintenance and operation.
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