Annual RoadCheck Results Demonstrate Need for Heavy Duty Maintenance

Every year the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) conducts a heavy-duty vehicle inspection program called RoadCheck. RoadCheck is a 72-hour blitz in which trained personnel in stations across North America perform roadside checks of heavy-duty vehicles and their drivers for compliance with vehicular and operator safety rules. RoadCheck 2007 performed 62,370 inspections at 1,449 stations, the greatest number of inspections ever performed in the 20 year history of the program.

The good news is that of the 62,370 inspections performed, 49,454 where eligible and 30,320 passed the rigorous North American Standard (NAS) Level 1 inspection without fault. All vehicles subject to a NAS Level 1 inspection have checks completed of the brakes, coupling, frame, lights, suspension and steering, fuel system, exhaust, wheels, tires, wipers and load securing.

HAZMAT carriers are subject to further checks, and there are certain vehicle specific items that are also checked depending on configuration. In addition, NAS Level 1 verifies the operator’s license status, medical examination certificate, duty status, hours of service, any indications of drug or alcohol use, seatbelt use and that the pre-trip vehicle inspection report has been completed properly. NAS Level 1, and thus the RoadCheck program, represents a comprehensive standard for vehicle safety and upkeep.

With 61.3 percent of eligible vehicles passing the NAS Level 1 inspection, there is a significant number that did not. 21.5 percent were placed out-of-service as a result of the RoadCheck inspections. HAZMAT carriers fared better than the total, with 17.7 percent placed out-of-service. Both of these figures represent improvements over 2006 levels, and continue the overall trend of declining inspection failure rates in recent years.

The reasons a vehicle fails inspection overwhelmingly fall into one of four categories: brakes, lighting, load securement, and wheels and tires. These four categories encompass over 85 percent of all the vehicles taken out-of-service as part of RoadCheck during the last four years. It is likely that load securement issues are the result of improper securement techniques rather than lack of proper equipment, thus the remaining three categories are those of principal importance to parts manufacturers.

The RoadCheck 2007 results show that approximately one-in-nine vehicles inspected had non-compliant braking systems. While this is based upon a non-random sample and therefore cannot be reliably ascribed to the total heavy-duty vehicle population, the indication remains that significant service shortfalls having major safety implications are present in many vehicles. If lighting, and wheels and tires are combined with braking, one-in-six heavy-duty vehicles inspected had a defect that could affect safety.

To underscore the importance of safety, the FMCSA publishes a crash cost estimate that computes the amount of additional revenue needed to recover the crash costs. With a five percent net margin, a single crash causing just $50,000 in extra costs would require and additional one million dollars worth of revenue. The site also lists the many hidden costs that can result from a crash that will increase the impact costs, and, consequently, the additional revenue required to recover them. The table and list can be found at:
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/facts-figures/analysis-statistics/Revenue.htm

Vehicle violations aren’t the only reasons for out-of-service penalties. The trend in recent years has been for RoadCheck to find an increasing number of maximum hour violations on behalf of drivers. In 2007, 4.9 percent of all drivers were found to be in violation, up from 4.5 percent in 2006, and much higher than the approximately 3.5 percent reported in 2000. Hours violations accounted for nearly two-thirds of all out-of-service violations in 2007. Other than hours infractions, only records falsification, with 11.4 percent of out-of-service violations, accounted for more than four percent.