On September 9-11, 2020, federal and state motor carrier inspectors conducted more than 50,000 North American Standard Level I, II, III and V inspections during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) three-day International Roadcheck commercial motor vehicle and driver inspection and enforcement initiative. Overall, one out of five vehicles were placed out-of-service in North America. The rate for Level I, II and V Inspections combined was 20.9% — slightly higher than we’ve seen in the past few years.

International Roadcheck is an annual 72-hour inspection and enforcement event to identify and remove unsafe commercial motor vehicles and drivers from roadways.

Digging deeper into the results allows us to better understand the critical vehicle inspection item out-of-service and driver-related violations.

During this year’s International Roadcheck, 45,046 Level I, II and III Inspections were conducted in the U.S. In total, 7,256 vehicles and 2,365 drivers were removed from roadways due to the discovery of critical vehicle inspection item out-of-service violations or unsafe out-of-service driver conditions just during this three-day event.

Top Five Vehicle OOS Violations – U.S.

Violation Category         # of OOS Violations          % of OOS Vehicle Violations
1 Brake System                   2,716                                           25.4%
2 Tires                                 2,102                                           19.7%
3 Lights                               1,476                                           13.8%
4 Brake Adjustment            1,393                                           13.0%
5 Cargo Securement          1,343                                           12.6%

Top Five Driver OOS Violations – U.S.

Violation Category         # of OOS Violations          % of OOS Driver Violations
1 Hours of Service              999                                              32.5%
2 Other                                 694                                              22.6%
(moving violations,
cell phone use, etc.)
3 Wrong Class License       683                                              22.2%
4 False Logs                        447                                              14.6%
5 Suspended License         140                                               4.6%

Out-of-service orders and the number, type and severity of safety violations affect a motor carrier’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) score and its Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) rating. CSA is FMCSA’s safety compliance and enforcement program designed to improve safety and prevent commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities by holding motor carriers and drivers accountable for their role in safety. The results also provide you with a roadmap of monitoring potential violations to prevent their occurrence. Make sure to focus on these out-of-service violations as you go through your pre-trip routines.