2008 Press Releases
2008
Law Enforcement Hammers Home Point of Truck, Bus Safety with Roadcheck Event Officers at the Ready to Hand Out A Ticket for Drivers Who Don't Click It
Thousands of law enforcement officers will be blanketing North America's roadways for 72 continuous hours beginning June 3 to hammer home the importance of comprehensive safety inspections of trucks and buses and on enforcing safety belt use. "Roadcheck," sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), dispatches federal, state, provincial and local inspectors to more than 1,000 locations across the continent to conduct comprehensive North American Standard Level I Inspections.
"While we certainly have a long way to go and we can never be satisfied until we have zero deaths," said Stephen F. Campbell, CVSA's executive director, "It is clear there have been dramatic safety improvements over the last 20 years and, in large part, this success has been the direct result of an increase in roadside inspections and enforcement through the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)."
In 1988, to conduct these activities $50 Million in federal dollars were made available to the states through the MCSAP vs. $197 Million in 2007.
Last year, the 62,370 roadside inspections performed during Roadcheck saved 15 lives and prevented 271 injuries. Over the course of a year, that performance rate would equal 1,825 lives saved and 32,972 injuries prevented. Annually, there are more than 3.5 million roadside inspections conducted across North America.
Roadcheck was launched in 1988 when there were 4,885 fatal crashes involving large trucks resulting in 5,679 fatalities in the U.S. That equates to 4.12 crashes per 100 million miles. Also in 1988, there were 94.4 (per 100 million miles) persons injured in large truck crashes, and 215.2 (per 100 million miles) large trucks involved in property damage only crashes. Fast forward to 2006 and the statistics show dramatic improvements: 2.24 fatalities/100MM (84 percent improvement), 47.4 injuries/100MM (99 percent improvement) and 134.4 PDO/100MM (60 percent improvement).
"Roadcheck gets to the core of what CVSA stands for: uniformity and reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections and enforcement activities. It is through programs such as this that we are able to demonstrate to the public that we are getting results," said Campbell.
"CVSA plays a pivotal role in making our roadways safer, and Roadcheck is just one of the many methods used to accomplish that goal," says John H. Hill, Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. "Partnering with CVSA has been a great success and the statistics prove it—Roadcheck and other enforcement activities conducted throughout the year save lives."
CVSA is an international not-for-profit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier safety officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The organization's mission is to promote commercial motor vehicle safety and security through a coalition of enforcement, industry and policy makers. Alliance members, as well as several hundred associate members, are dedicated to achieving the shared goals of uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections and enforcement activities throughout North America. For more on CVSA visit www.cvsa.org.
