Roadside Inspection Blitz 2024
May 14-16, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is conducting their annual International Roadcheck. This Roadcheck is an annual three-day event that takes place across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. During this time, roughly 15 trucks and motorcoaches are inspected every minute over the course of 72 hours.
That means, if your fleet has trucks on the road – you’re likely to get inspected.
So, it’s important to know the focus of this year’s inspection and how to best prepare your fleet and drivers to ensure your CSA scores don’t skyrocket.
What to Expect
For most fleets, this inspection blitz can be a massive headache, but luckily, the CVSA gives you all the information you need to pass them.
According to this year’s roadcheck flyer, the focus for the 2024 International Roadcheck is tractor protection and controlled substance or alcohol possession. Though your trucks will surely be checked for all types of violations, ensuring you can pass these two areas will give you an advantage for the duration of the blitz.
Tractor Protection and Anti-Bleed Back Systems
To help you better prepare for your tractor protection inspection, it’s good to know what an inspector will be looking for. This way, you or your technicians can perform the inspection yourself before hitting the road.
During the roadcheck, the inspector will:
- Make sure the wheel chocks are in place and have the driver release every brake by pressing dash valves.
- Have the driver demonstrate that they can carefully remove the gladhands and allow air to escape.
- Make sure the air stops leaking from the supply line with at least 20 psi remaining.
- Listen or feel for air that might be leaking from the gladhand couplers on the trailer.
- Request a full service brake application by the driver.
- Listen or feel for leaks that might be coming from both air lines.
Controlled Substance and Alcohol Possession
Controlled substance and alcohol possession is a bit more difficult to prepare for, given that you can’t actively control the behavior of your drivers. But there are steps you can take, including establishing and enforcing policies that prevent controlled substance and alcohol possession. Another great resource is your Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (DACH) account to ensure none of your drivers are currently under a prohibited status.
During the roadcheck, the inspector will:
- Observe the driver to ensure there are no signs of alcohol or controlled substance use.
- Examine the cab and/or trailer for any signs of alcohol or controlled substances.
- Check with the DACH to ensure the driver is not in a prohibited status.
How Are Commercial Drivers Chosen for Roadside Inspections?
On most occasions, commercial drivers are selected for roadside inspection because an officer has spotted something off about their driving behavior or the state of their vehicle. This could include speeding, swaying in and out of lanes, or a flat tire.
However, enforcement officers don’t actually need a reason to pull over a commercial driver.
That’s especially true during an inspection blitz, where officers are encouraged to inspect as many vehicles as they possibly can. So, knowing that, it’s much better to be prepared for the inspection than to try and avoid it altogether.
When a driver receives an out-of-service (OOS) violation, that means they can’t resume driving until the issue is resolved. That can create a serious delay for your trucking fleet and its motor carrier operations.
Though it’s good to know what specific violations FMCSA DOT inspection officers will be looking out for during the International Roadcheck, there are still plenty of other violations your drivers can receive that can put them out of commission.
Top OOS Violations of 2024
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, here are the top five OOS violations for drivers:
And here are the top five OOS violations for vehicles:
How Can Violations Affect Your CSA Score?
Every violation your commercial carrier drivers receive during a roadside inspection can have a negative impact on your CSA Scores. In fact, all inspections stay with your fleet for 24 months. That includes clean inspections, as well as all of your OOS violations.
The more safety issues your fleet has, the higher your ISS score. The higher your score, the more negative effects on your company. That includes higher insurance costs, slower transit operations, and a higher chance of facing additional government interventions, such as safety and compliance audits.
Next to that, if you have a higher ISS score, the more scrutiny your fleet receives from inspection officers. That won’t necessarily affect how many random, roadside inspections your drivers receive, but it will affect how often your trucks are stopped and inspected during weigh-ins.
Plus, your roadside activity – both inspections and crashes, plays a part in whether or not your fleet receives an intervention – – hear audit.
How To Monitor Your ISS Score
If you want to ensure that your fleet is functioning optimally, it’s important to monitor your ISS score. That doesn’t just mean the score itself, but the factors contributing to the score as well, such as which violations are most common to your fleet, which drivers receive the most violations, and which maintenance issues are causing the most delays.
With MCAdvantage, you can do all of this and more:
- See what your current ISS and scores are and receive a roadmap to lower them quickly.
- Check out detailed inspection reports and see which vehicles are having the most challenges.
- Get score cards for each of your drivers to evaluate their performance and number of violations.
Build a safer fleet with MCAdvantage’s exclusive safety data and scores. Get access to unique safety information, ratings, and the knowledge to change your ISS rating.
Start using MCAdvantage for free today. All you need is your DOT #. Do more, stop less, improve your productivity, and save on your carrier insurance costs with MCAdvantage.
