Today is the first day of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) weeklong brake safety inspection, education and enforcement initiative. Commercial motor vehicle inspectors in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will conduct inspections of commercial motor vehicles and provide brake-related inspection and violation data to CVSA. The Alliance will gather and analyze that data and release the results later this year.
In addition to brake-system inspection and violation data, inspectors will also report data on brake lining/pads and violations, the focus area for this year’s Brake Safety Week. Although some brake lining/pad issues are not automatically out-of-service vehicle violations, brake lining/pad violations still affect a motor carrier’s safety rating.
Inspectors will report data on the condition of brake lining/pads, such as cracks/voids (as per the regulations), loose or missing brake lining/pads, worn (as per the regulations) or contaminated brake lining/pads, etc.
Commercial motor vehicles that pass a Level I or V Inspection are eligible to receive a CVSA decal. A CVSA decal signals to roadside inspectors that the vehicle has been recently inspected and passed inspection (decals are valid for up to three consecutive months). This allows inspectors to focus their time on vehicles that have not been recently inspected.
Conversely, when an inspector performs an inspection and identifies critical vehicle inspection item violations, as outlined in the CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, that vehicle will be placed out of service until those violations have been corrected.
View CVSA’s inspection procedures.
Brake Safety Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake Program, which is dedicated to improving commercial motor vehicle brake safety throughout North America.