The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced that its annual International Roadcheck inspection blitz will be held June 6-8.

As a reminder, Roadcheck is a 72-hour event in which inspectors conduct an increased number of commercial vehicle inspections. In its 30th year, the purpose of the program is for CVSA-certified inspectors to “conduct compliance, enforcement and educational initiatives,” according to the CVSA website.

I’ve talked about Roadcheck before in this blog, but I’d like to discuss it again as there is still much work to be done.

Last year, a total of 62,796 inspections were conducted; 42,236 of them were Level 1 inspections. As a result of those inspections, CVSA reported that 21.5 percent of vehicles and 3.4 percent of drivers were placed out-of-service. Brake adjustment and brake system violations accounted for 45.7 percent of the out-of-service vehicle violations.

Tires and wheel violations were the special focus of last year’s effort and 18.5 percent of out-of-service violations were tire and wheel related.

The CVSA website has a list of what inspectors look for during these inspections. It includes a checklist for drivers.

While June may seem like it is a long way off, I don’t think it is too early for you to start preparing to make sure all trucks in your fleet will be ready for the blitz.

  • A good place to start is by reviewing your existing inspection forms. Do they cover all the areas the inspectors will be looking at? You might also want to review vehicle service histories to find any patterns of recurring problems. Then ask yourself what steps you can take to eliminate, or at least mitigate, those issues.
  • A renewed emphasis on driver pre- and post-trip inspections is also a good idea. Problems found — and fixed — before a truck leaves the lot will more likely pass inspection.
  • Remind your technicians to pay close attention to DVIRs and to correct problems drivers have identified. Drivers are more likely to point out problems if they know they are being taken seriously and that action is being taken to fix the problem.
  • Make sure you are current on PM inspections and service for all your vehicles. If you are not currently tracking PM compliance, now is a good time to start.

The dates for Road check have been set; make sure you’re set to pass inspections during the blitz.