Mark your calendars for June 7-9. That’s when the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) will be conducting Annual International Roadcheck, its roadside inspection blitz.
Come to think of it, maybe you should put this event on your schedule now so you have time to get your vehicles prepared for the event.
During the three-day Roadcheck, 10,000 CVSA-certified local, state, provincial, territorial and federal inspectors will be out in force across North America to perform truck and bus inspections.
The inspections will be the North American Standard Level I Type, the most thorough of the roadside inspections. The special emphasis for 2016 will be on tire safety and will include measuring tread depth, checking tire pressure, inspecting to see if anything is lodged between dual tires, and examining the overall condition of the tire for deep cuts or bulges in the sidewalls.
And while the special emphasis is on tires, inspectors will also be looking at braking systems, cargo securement, coupling devices, exhaust systems, frame, fuel systems, lights, steering, drivelines/driveshafts, suspensions, wheels and rims and windshield wipers.
In 2015, 69,000 inspections were completed. Of the trucks subjected to a Level 1 Inspection, 21.6% of the vehicles received out-of-service violations. Top violations were: brake system (27.5%), brake adjustment (15.5%), safe loading (15.3%), tires/wheels (13.9%), and lights (12.7%)
To ensure that your trucks aren’t taken out of service during this year’s Roadcheck, you should check to be sure they are up-to-date on their preventive maintenance service. If they are not, now would be a good time to schedule a preventive maintenance inspection so you can discover any lurking problems and fix them before inspectors arrive on site in June; you’ll want to be sure your maintenance checklists dovetail with CVSA’s.
And as inspectors will be paying extra attention to tires, turn your laser focus on that area. A good place to start is to remind drivers to check tire pressure as part of their pre-trip inspections. They are supposed to be doing this as a matter of course but a little reminder can’t hurt.
It’s not a day too early to make sure your vehicles are ready when the inspectors come calling. Problems uncovered and fixed in advance will ensure that your vehicles pass inspections easily.
