This year, the focus of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck Week 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 out-of-service tire 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.
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Combined, wheel end (tire and wheel) violations accounted for 22.8% of all out-of-service vehicle violations throughout North America. Over the three days of the Roadcheck Week, CVSA-certified inspectors conducted 59,026 inspections and placed 12,456 commercial motor vehicles and 3,714 commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service.
United States: Top Five Vehicle OOS Violations (2021 in brackets)
What does being placed out-of-service (OOS) mean?
During a roadside inspection, a commercial motor vehicle is placed out of service when an inspector finds critical safety out-of-service violations. Being put out of service means the driver or vehicle is prohibited from operation for a specified period of time or until the violation is corrected. With operating costs as high as they’ve ever been, being placed in OOS is a real expense to the carrier beyond the cost of repairs, as much as $1,500 per day.
CVSA inspectors in Canada and the U.S. conducted 36,555 Level I inspections (a 37-step process that checks the driver’s operating credentials and requirements and the vehicle’s mechanical fitness and regulatory compliance) last May. As a result, they placed 8,718 vehicles out of service, a 23.1% vehicle out-of-service rate for North America. However, that also means that 77.2% of the vehicles and 93.6% of the drivers inspected did not have out-of-service violations.
In Canada, the total number of inspections was much less. Still, as a percentage of total OOS vehicle violations, brake systems accounted for 38%, followed by cargo securement at almost 19% and defective brakes at 10%. In addition to vehicles being inspected, drivers were also subjected to various inspections, with false logs accounting for almost 45% of OOS driver violations in the U.S., followed by incorrect license class at 24.7% and suspended license at 6%. In Canada, where electronic logging devices have been mandated but won’t be enforced until next year, hours of service violations accounted for just over 76% of driver OOS violations.
