Tag: #brakeinspection

CVSA Releases 2022 Brake Safety Week Results

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by CVSA

Photo: Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance

Commercial motor vehicle inspectors in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. conducted 38,117 inspections of commercial motor vehicles Aug. 21-27 for Brake Safety Week. Of the total number of the commercial motor vehicles inspected, 13.3% were placed out of service for brake-related critical vehicle inspection item violations. That also means that nearly 87% of the commercial motor vehicles inspected throughout North America during Brake Safety Week did not have brake-related critical vehicle inspection item violations.

The inspections conducted during Brake Safety Week are no different from the inspections conducted any other day of the year. During the week, inspectors compiled and then submitted brake-related data to the Alliance for compilation, analysis and release.

Fifty-three Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions, and Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation participated in this year’s Brake Safety Week, which is a voluntary brake-safety inspection and enforcement initiative.

Broken out by country, inspectors in Canada inspected 1,975 commercial motor vehicles and placed 351 (17.8%) out-of-service for brake-related violations. In Mexico, 1,740 commercial motor vehicles were inspected. Forty-four (2.5%) were placed out of service. In the U.S., of the 34,402 commercial motor vehicles inspected, 4,664 (13.6%) were placed out of service (OOS).

Table 1: Percentage and number of brake-related OOS violations by country

Also, inspectors identified and documented 6,305 brake hose/tube chafing violations, which are a common brake-related violation and was the focus area for this year’s Brake Safety Week. Inspectors reported brake hose chafing violations in four different categories, with varying levels of chafing severity, including two which were out-of-service violations. Read More»

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

ADOT, DPS recognize Brake for Safety Week with focus on commercial vehicle brakes

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

First published by ADOT

Good-working brakes essential to road safety

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation’s Enforcement and Compliance Division and the Department of Public Safety want to remind commercial vehicle drivers to make sure their brakes are properly working during Brake for Safety Week Aug. 21-27.

Brake for Safety Week is designated by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, and Arizona’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Task Force, which consists of both DPS troopers and ADOT officers, is participating by setting up mobile inspection locations at the Christensen and Parks rest areas in northern Arizona to focus on commercial vehicle brake inspections.

Through July of this year, ADOT officers working at the state’s ports of entry have recorded an average of 300 brake-related violations each month during commercial vehicle inspections.

“Having brakes in good working order is a top safety priority, especially when we’re talking about large semi trucks,” said Chief Leah Ray, who heads ADOT’s Enforcement Services Bureau. “While our officers routinely inspect brakes as part of inspections at the ports of entry, they will be focused on those brake systems this week in support of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s goal to bring awareness to this issue.”

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is a nonprofit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials and industry representatives. The Alliance aims to prevent commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities and believes that collaboration between government and industry improves road safety and saves lives.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

It’s Brake Safety Week

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

First published by CVSA

Today is the first day of Brake Safety Week, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) seven-day brake inspection and enforcement initiative and brake-safety outreach and awareness campaign.

From Aug. 21-27, commercial motor vehicle inspectors in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will be conducting their usual North American Standard Level I and IV Inspections; however, in addition, they will be documenting brake-related out-of-service violations and brake hose/tube chafing violations and will submit that data to CVSA. The results will be released later this year.

CVSA devotes a week to brake-safety inspections and education because:

  • Last year’s CVSA International Roadcheck results found that brake systems and brake adjustment violations accounted for 38.9% of all vehicle out-of-service violations, the most of any category of vehicle violations.
  • During CVSA’s unannounced one-day brake safety initiative in April, 14.1% of the 9,132 commercial motor vehicles inspected that day were placed out of service for brake-related critical vehicle inspection item violations.
  • Brake-related violations accounted for seven out of the top 20 vehicle violations in 2021, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Motor Carrier Management Information System data snapshot (as of July 29, 2022).
  • Brake system was the third most cited vehicle-related factor in large truck fatal crashes, according to FMCSA’s most recent (2019) Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts report.

Properly functioning brake systems are crucial to safe commercial motor vehicle operation. Improperly installed or poorly maintained brake systems can reduce the braking capacity and increase stopping distances for trucks and motorcoaches, which pose serious risks to driver and vehicle safety.

During Brake Safety Week, and every day of the year, when an inspector discovers critical vehicle inspection items, as identified in the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, that vehicle will be placed out of service until the condition is corrected.

Brake Safety Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake program in partnership with FMCSA, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada and Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and the National Guard. Operation Airbrake is a comprehensive program dedicated to improving commercial motor vehicle brake safety throughout North America. The goal is to reduce the number of highway crashes caused by faulty braking systems by conducting roadside inspections and educating drivers, mechanics, owner-operators and others on the importance of proper brake inspection, maintenance and operation.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

It’s Brake Safety Week

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

First published by CVSA

Commerical Vehicle Safety Alliance - McCraren Compliance

Photo property of CVSA

Starting today, Aug. 22, through Aug. 28, commercial motor vehicle law enforcement personnel in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will be cataloging and submitting brake inspection and violation data to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) for Brake Safety Week, a vehicle safety initiative focused on the inspection and identification of brake violations in commercial motor vehicles. The results will be released later in the year and will include the brake-related out-of-service rates for the week, along with data on chafing air brake hose/tubing violations, the focus area for this year’s Brake Safety Week.

“Although inspection of a vehicle’s brake system and its components is always part of the roadside inspection process, Brake Safety Week aims to highlight the importance of brake systems and proper brake maintenance, operation and performance,” said CVSA President Sgt. John Samis with the Delaware State Police.

Throughout Brake Safety Week, CVSA-certified inspectors will be conducting North American Standard Level I and V Inspections. When checking the brake system and its components, the inspector will:

  • Check for missing, non-functioning, loose, contaminated or cracked parts on the brake system.
  • Check for S-cam flip-over.
  • Listen for audible air leaks around brake components and lines.
  • Check for improper connections and chafing of air hoses and tubing.
  • Ensure slack adjusters are the same length (from center of S-cam to center of clevis pin) and the air chambers on each axle are the same size.
  • Ensure the air system maintains proper air pressure.
  • Look for non-manufactured holes (e.g., rust holes, holes created by rubbing or friction, etc.) and broken springs in the spring brake housing.
  • Mark and measure pushrod travel.
  • Inspect required brake system warning devices, such as anti-lock braking system malfunction lamp(s) and low air-pressure warning devices.
  • Inspect the tractor protection system, including the bleed-back system on the trailer.
  • Ensure the breakaway system is operable on the trailer.

In addition to checking brake systems, inspectors may also check cargo securement, coupling devices, driveline/driveshaft components, driver’s seat (missing), exhaust systems, frames, fuel systems, lighting devices, steering mechanisms, suspensions, tires, van and open-top trailer bodies, wheels, rims and hubs, windshield wipers, etc.

If no critical vehicle inspection item violations are found during a Level I or V Inspection, that vehicle is eligible for a CVSA decal. Conversely, vehicles with critical vehicle inspection item violations may be placed out of service if they meet the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria. Those violations must be addressed before the vehicle will be permitted to proceed.

Brake Safety Week is a campaign of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake program, supported by CVSA member jurisdictions, the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, and Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation and the National Guard.

View the results from last year’s Brake Safety Week.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, DOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

CVSA Releases 2020 Brake Safety Week Results

Posted on by McCraren Compliance
First published by CVSA.
Greenbelt, Maryland (Oct. 27, 2020) – During this year’s Brake Safety Week, 12% of the 43,565 commercial motor vehicles inspected were placed out of service for brake-related violations. Inspectors from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. removed 5,156 commercial motor vehicles from roadways due to brake violations during the week-long inspection and enforcement event, focused specifically on reducing brake-related crashes by conducting inspections and identifying and removing unsafe commercial motor vehicles from roadways.

Fifty-three jurisdictions participated in this year’s Brake Safety Week, which is a voluntary inspection, enforcement and outreach initiative. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, jurisdictions that elected to participate in Brake Safety Week, which took place Aug. 23-29, 2020, conducted inspections following each agency’s health and safety protocols and precautions in consideration of the health and well-being of inspectors and drivers.

Forty-five U.S. jurisdictions, seven Canadian jurisdictions and Mexico’s National Guard and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation provided data this year. In the U.S., 35,778 inspections were conducted; 4,565 vehicles (13%) were placed out of service for brake-related violations. In Mexico, 6% (355) of the 5,958 commercial motor vehicles inspected were placed out of service for brake-related violations. In Canada, 1,829 inspections were conducted, and the brake-related out-of-service rate was 14% (256).

Commercial motor vehicle inspectors throughout North America use the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria to identify critical vehicle inspection item violations that are concerning enough to warrant removing that vehicle from traveling on roadways until those conditions have been repaired.

Eighty-eight percent of the commercial motor vehicles inspected did not have brake-related critical vehicle inspection item violations. Vehicles that did not have any out-of-service conditions during a Level I or Level V Inspection may have received a CVSA decal. A decal, valid for up to three months, signifies that the vehicle was recently inspected by a CVSA-certified inspector and that vehicle had no critical vehicle inspection item violations.

In addition to capturing brake system out-of-service violation data, during this year’s Brake Safety Week, inspectors also recorded and submitted data regarding the chafing of brake hoses. Inspectors reported levels of brake hose chafing violations, separated into five categories based on the level of severity; two of which were out-of-service conditions, three were not.

A total of 6,697 hose chafing violations were reported in a separate data query from participating jurisdictions. Table 1 provides a reference key and details each category of chafing, along with the numeric totals for each category by country. Table 2 illustrates the frequency of each category of brake hose/tube chafing encountered by each country as a percentage of all hose chafing violations.
Table 1: Reported Brake Hose Chafing Violations by Severity
Table 2: Percentages of Total Brake Hose Chafing Violations
“Although many commercial motor vehicle enforcement agencies were forced to reduce services in the spring due to the pandemic, it was important that we resumed inspection and enforcement duties as soon as it was safe to do so,” said CVSA President Sgt. John Samis with the Delaware State Police. “With truck drivers designated ‘essential personnel’ by the government, we needed to ensure that the vehicles traversing our roadways were safe to support commercial drivers as they selflessly continued to work during such a difficult and challenging time.”

Next year’s Brake Safety Week is scheduled for Aug. 22-28, 2021.

Brake Safety Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake program, in partnership with the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, and Mexico’s National Guard and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, DOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.