Another year, another chance for the trucking industry to focus on brake safety. Let’s go over what fleets and drivers need to know for this year’s Brake Safety Week.
What is Brake Safety Week?
According to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Brake Safety Week is a commercial motor vehicle and driver inspection and regulatory compliance enforcement initiative, a brake-safety awareness and outreach opportunity, and a brake-related inspection and violation data collection project. Each year, this event is hosted by CVSA.
This means that inspections will be conducted throughout Brake Safety Week with particular focus on brake performance. Vehicles can be taken out of service if brake violations are discovered.
When is Brake Safety Week?
Brake Safety Week this year will be August 25-31. According to past CVSA records, Brake Safety Week typically occurs at the end of August.
Unlike Brake Safety Day, another CVSA event—the date of which goes unannounced until after the event has occurred—fleets have time and the knowledge needed to prepare for Brake Safety Week.
How should fleets prepare for Brake Safety Week?
The emphasis of Brake Safety Week this year will be on the condition of brake linings and pads. Inspectors will be looking for excessive wear in the brake linings and pads, particularly cracks, according to Jim Ward, senior safety manager at Transervice Logistics.
Ward said that one red flag that drivers may not think twice about but inspectors will is rubbing air lines.
“Those [rubbing air lines] get written up a lot,” Ward said. “If you have two brake lines—which some of them are rubber, others are like a poly material—what happens is those two hoses have a lot of pressure going through them, and they're sitting right next to each other. So over time, with the vibration of the truck, they tend to rub against each other, and they can start leaving little marks on each other. Sometimes they'll wear down far enough to actually put a big chafe into the hose. To me, that's something that's overlooked. It may look fine, but if those two hoses are touching, you're going to get written up for it because you should make sure that they’re kept separated.”
See also: CVSA releases results of 2024 Brake Safety Day
To prepare for Brake Safety Week, Ward suggests focusing on pre- and post-trip inspections as well as preventive maintenance.
“The most important thing is PM and pre-trip inspections,” Ward said. “Make sure that the trucks are PM’d on a regular basis … When you're a driver, the most important thing for you to continue to do is pre-trip. Pre-trip inspect your vehicle because it saves your life and the people in front of you or people around you.”
What will the results of Brake Safety Week be?
According to CVSA, Brake Safety Week in 2022 resulted in 13.3% out-of-service violations. This decreased to 12.6% in 2023. This trend may continue in 2024, however, it’s also possible that safety technology will result in more accurate brake performance inspections.
This year, CVSA announced that performance-based brake testers (PBBTs) will be used in some jurisdictions during Brake Safety Week. PBBTs are machines that test brake performance. They measure the slow-speed brake force and weight at each wheel of a vehicle, add up the total vehicle brake force, and divide it by the total vehicle weight to determine overall vehicle braking efficiency.
It’s difficult to speculate, but the use of this technology could affect the percentage of out-of-service violations with more accurate measurements of brake performance.
Why is Brake Safety Week important?
According to CVSA, brake violations comprise the largest percentage of out-of-service violations cited during roadside inspections. CVSA cites that in last year’s International Roadcheck, brake violations were the top vehicle violation, comprising 25.2% of all vehicle out-of-service violations during those three days.
Brake Safety Week serves as a reminder to drivers and fleet managers of the importance of vehicle maintenance and provides an opportunity for law enforcement to highlight the importance of brake safety for all.
