News

CVSA is pleased to announce that Sgt. Benjamin Schropfer with the Nebraska State Patrol earned the 2019 Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion Award, the highest honor for the commercial motor vehicle roadside inspector, at the 2019 North American Inspectors Championship.

The CVSA Board of Directors approved a new Inspection Bulletin regarding Dodge Ram 2500/3500 drag link assembly welds.

On May 15, 2019, CVSA’s law enforcement members conducted 10,358 commercial motor vehicle inspections focused on identifying brake system violations. Of those inspections, 16.1% of vehicles had brake-related critical vehicle inspection items. Those 1,667 vehicles were placed out of service until the violations could be corrected.

From July 14-20, law enforcement personnel will identify, pull over and issue warnings or citations to commercial motor vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted driving, following too closely, improper lane change, etc.

CVSA awarded $1,000 scholarships to five deserving high school seniors to attend the college of their choice this fall. Brendan Dowling will attend Biola University; William Farris was accepted to the University of Alabama; Kathryn Kelley will attend Southwest Baptist University; Reagan Miller plans to attend Dallas Baptist University; and Marissa Snapp was accepted to Emory and Henry College.

Enforcement officials will conduct roadside safety inspections on commercial motor vehicles 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.

On June 12, 2019, CVSA Past President Deputy Chief Mark Savage with the Colorado Highway Patrol testified on behalf of the Alliance and the enforcement community at the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit hearing, titled “Under Pressure: The State of Trucking in America.”

Commercial motor vehicles and their drivers will be checked at inspection sites, weigh stations, strategic locations and roving patrol locations on public roadways in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Law enforcement personnel will be on the lookout for commercial motor vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in dangerous driver behaviors July 14-20 as part of CVSA’s Operation Safe Driver Week. Drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors will be pulled over by law enforcement and may be issued a warning and/or citation.

More than 500 enforcement personnel, government officials and industry representatives attended the CVSA Workshop, March 31-April 4, 2019, in St. Louis, Missouri. Participants attended membership, region, committee and program meetings, as well as informational sessions, aimed at improving uniformity and reciprocity in commercial motor vehicle safety and enforcement by sharing information, developing best practices, and enhancing roadside inspection program activities and services.

CVSA’s 2019 North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria is now in effect. The 2019 out-of-service criteria replaces and supersedes all previous versions. The North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria is the pass-fail criteria for roadside safety inspections.

International Roadcheck will take place June 4-6. Over that 72-hour period, commercial motor vehicle inspectors will conduct inspections on commercial motor vehicles and drivers. This year’s focus is steering and suspension systems.

On March 5, 2019, Senators Gillibrand and Rubio and Representatives Cohen and DeSaulnier introduced the Stop Underrides Act, which seeks to improve underride protection on commercial motor vehicles by improving performance standards.

CVSAs proud to announce professional driver Timothy Dean of Werner Enterprises as the winner of the 2019 International Driver Excellence Award. Dean has been with Werner for more than 30 years and safely driven more than 4 million miles without incident.

Christopher Turner, a former captain with the Kansas Highway Patrol, joined CVSA on Feb. 19, 2019, as director of crash and data programs.

Nearly 150 data quality and information system specialists attended CVSA Data Management, Quality and FMCSA Systems Training, Jan. 29-31, 2019, in San Antonio, Texas. This three-day training course was offered to state partners who report inspection and crash records to support federal and state safety programs.

More than 250 individuals involved in the regulation, enforcement and safety of hazardous materials/dangerous goods transportation attended the COHMED Conference, Jan. 28-Feb. 1, 2019, in San Antonio, Texas.

2018-2019 CVSA President Scott Carnegie has retired from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety; therefore, he will be unable to serve the rest of his term as president. Chief Jay Thompson, of the Arkansas Highway Police, will assume the role of president for the remainder of the 2018-2019 term.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the United States. The CVSA membership fully supports this important cause and is committed to bringing awareness to the crime of human trafficking and working together to prevent human trafficking throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States.

During Brake Safety Week, Sept. 16-22, 2018, enforcement personnel in 57 jurisdictions conducted 35,080 inspections on commercial motor vehicles. Inspectors found critical vehicle inspection items in the brake systems of 4,955 (14.1 percent) of the vehicles inspected and placed those vehicles out of service until the condition(s) could be corrected.