CVSA Releases Results of Unannounced Brake Safety Day
The results from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) unannounced one-day brake safety inspection and enforcement initiative earlier this year show that 1,667 commercial motor vehicles (CMV) were placed out of service for critical brake-related violations.
The event took place on May 15th when law enforcement members from 55 jurisdictions throughout the United States and Canada conducted 10,358 CMV inspections focused on identifying brake system violations. Of those, 16.1% of vehicles had brake-related critical vehicle inspection items. In the U.S., 16.6% of CMVs were placed out of service for brake violations, while in Canada, 13.5% of CMVs were placed out of service for brake violations.
During May’s brake safety blitz, inspectors also paid close attention to violations involving brake hoses/tubing:
Nearly 1,700 commercial motor vehicles were placed out of service for critical brake-related violations during CVSA's unannounced brake safety blitz in May.
There were 996 units with chafed rubber hose violations.
185 units had chafed thermoplastic hose violations.
There were 1,125 violations of 49 Code of Federal Regulations §393.45 and Canadian equivalent violations that included chafed rubber hoses.
There were 124 violations of 49 Code of Federal Regulations §393.45 and Canadian equivalent violations that included kinked thermoplastic hoses.
CVSA conducts brake-focused enforcement events to identify and remove CMVs with dangerous brake issues from the roadways to reduce the number of crashes caused by or made more severe by deficient braking system performance. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), more than half a million CMV violations in 2017 were related to brakes. The safety initiative involves educating drivers, mechanics, owner-operators, and others on the importance of proper brake inspections, maintenance, and operation.
According to FMCSA's Analysis and Information Online 2019 calendar year data snapshot as of June 28, 2019, out of 1.8 million inspections, the top five brake-related violations were:
Clamp or roto type brake out of adjustment (86,296)
CMV manufactured after Oct. 19, 1994, has an automatic brake adjustment system that fails to compensate for wear (45,594)
Brake hose or tubing chafing and/or kinking (37,737)
No or defective ABS malfunction indicator lamp for trailer manufactured after March 1, 1998 (37,343)
Inoperative/defective brakes (32,125)
As a reminder, CVSA will be holding another brake-focused inspection event, Brake Safety Week, on September 15-21, 2019. Throughout that week, enforcement officials will conduct roadside safety inspections on CMVs throughout North America. Vehicles with critical brake violations, or other critical vehicle inspection item violations, will be restricted from traveling until those violations are corrected. Vehicles without critical vehicle inspection item violations are eligible to receive a CVSA decal indicating that the vehicle passed inspection.
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