Today the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance released the results of its annual Brake Safety Week inspection campaign.
This year, Brake Safety Week took place from September 11 – 17 throughout the U.S. and Canada. During the weeklong safety campaign, officers conducted 18,385 inspections.
Out Of Service Orders Issued For Hundreds Of Trucks
Of the trucks that were inspected, 13.2% were found to have brake safety issues that resulted in an out of service order. Inspectors also found non-brake related violations that resulted in out of service orders for 14.8% of the vehicles inspected, but some trucks had violations in both brake related and non brake related categories.
Inspectors Focused On ABS This Year
Inspectors made a point of focusing on anti-lock braking systems (ABS) during the inspection campaign. They found that “93.2% of air-braked trucks (including tractors) inspected and 90.4% of hydraulic-braked trucks inspected required ABS, based on their date of manufacture.”
Additionally, the CVSA reported that “8.8% of ABS-required, air-braked trucks and 8.8% of ABS-required, hydraulic-braked trucks were found with ABS violations.”
The CVSA report also states that 15.8% of trucks that were required to have ABS were found to have ABS violations.
CVSA President Julius Debuschewitz of Yukon Highways and Public Works says that the annual campaign increases highway safety by removing dangerous vehicles from the road: “Although brake inspections are a part of the Level I inspections conducted by our hard-working CMV inspectors every day, Brake Safety Week is an opportunity to remind motor carriers and drivers of the importance of brake health and safety, and it provides the opportunity for our inspectors to conduct targeted and focused inspections to identify and remove commercial motor vehicles that have brakes with critical violations from our roadways.”
Inspectors have performed more than 3.8 million brake checks since Brake Safety Week was first developed in Canada in 1998.