Today is the start of Brake Safety Week, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) safety initiative focused on the roadside inspection and identification of commercial motor vehicles with critical brake violations. Vehicles found to have critical brake violations, or other critical vehicle inspection item conditions, will be removed from roadways until those violations are corrected.
On Sept. 15-21, CVSA-certified enforcement personnel will be conducting roadside inspections, which include thorough investigation of brake systems on commercial motor vehicles. Inspectors will also pay special attention to brake hoses/tubing, which must be properly attached, undamaged, without leaks and appropriately flexible.
CVSA’s brake-focused safety initiatives, such as Brake Safety Week, aim to reduce the number of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles with brake system deficiencies by conducting roadside mechanical fitness inspections and removing commercial motor vehicles with dangerous brake conditions from our roadways. Brake Safety Week is part of the Operation Airbrake Program, sponsored by CVSA in partnership with the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
CVSA is a nonprofit association comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials and industry representatives. The Alliance aims to achieve uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial motor vehicle inspections and enforcement by certified inspectors dedicated to driver and vehicle safety. Our mission is to improve commercial motor vehicle safety and uniformity throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States by providing guidance and education to enforcement, industry and policy makers.