7,912 trucks and 2,051 drivers placed out of service in U.S. during 3-day Roadcheck

Over the three days of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s International Roadcheck commercial motor vehicle inspection and enforcement initiative held May 17-19, certified inspectors conducted 59,026 inspections throughout North America and placed 12,456 commercial motor vehicles and 3,714 commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service.

In the U.S., of the 33,196 Level I Inspections that were conducted, 7,912 commercial motor vehicles (23.8%) and 2,051 drivers (6.2%) were placed out of service, according to the CVSA.

During last year's Roadcheck 19,786 commercial vehicles received Level I inspections in the U.S. Of that number, 4,136 vehicles -- or 20.9% of those inspected -- were placed out of service. also, 1,083 drivers -- or 5.5% of those inspected -- were placed out of service.

The leading violations that placed U.S. trucks out of service were:

1. Brake systems: 3,992 (24%)
2. Tires: 3,227 (19.4%)
3. Defective service braakes: 2,142 (12.9%)
4. Lights: 2,084 (12.5%)
5. Cargo securement: 1,647 (9.9%)

The leading violations that placed U.S. drivers out of service were:

1. False logs: 1,901 (45%)
2. Wrong class of license: 1,045 (24.7%)
3. Suspended license: 251 (5.9%)
4. No medical card: 222 (5.3%)
5. Other: 205 (4.9%)

Each year, CVSA highlights a certain aspect of the roadside inspection. This year, the focus was on wheel ends. Out of the top 10 vehicle out-of-service violations, tires ranked second and wheels came in seventh. Of the 18,213 total vehicle out-of-service violations, there were 3,374 tire out-of-service violations, accounting for 18.5% of all vehicle out-of-service violations, and there were 784 wheel out-of-service violations, which is 4.3% of all vehicle out-of-service violations. Combined, wheel end (tire and wheel) violations accounted for 22.8% of all out-of-service vehicle violations throughout North America.

Last year, there were more than 50,000 “failure to use a seatbelt while operating a commercial motor vehicle” driver violations, according to the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Motor Carrier Management Information System. It was the fourth most-cited driver violation in 2021, accounting for 4.99% of the total number of driver violations. During the three days of International Roadcheck, inspectors checked safety belt usage during inspections and identified 472 seatbelt violations.