On May 4-6, 2021—as part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck—40,000+ truck inspections were conducted, removing 6,710 commercial vehicles and 2,080 drivers from roads across the US and Canada.
The International Roadcheck is conducted annually and is meant to remove unsafe commercial motor vehicles (CMV) and drivers from roads. During this 72-hour inspection, 16.5% of vehicles and 5.3% of drivers were placed out of service. In comparison, last year’s Roadcheck in late September 2020 had a vehicle out-of-service rate of 22.2% and a driver out-of-service rate of 5.3%.
The basis for violations comes from the CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria.
What are the levels for CVSA Truck Inspections?
There are eight different levels of inspection that the CVSA follows, however the truck inspections in this roadcheck were only subjected to the North American Standard (NAS) Level I, II, and III Inspections.
- NAS Level I Inspection—includes a 37-step procedure examining the driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical fitness.
- NAS Level II Inspection—includes anything that can be inspected without getting under the CMV.
- NAS Level III Inspection—includes a review of driver requirements, such as the license, cargo and vehicle documentation, record of duty status, seat belt usage, etc.
There were over 23,135 Level I Inspections conducted, removing 5,048 vehicles (21.8%) and 1,200 (5.2%) drivers from roadways.
There were over 9,410 Level II Inspections conducted, removing 1,593 vehicles (16.9%) and 549 (5.8%) drivers from roadways.
There were over 6,836 Level III Inspections conducted, removing 331 (4.8%) drivers from roadways.
What was the focus of CVSA Truck Inspections?
For 2021, CVSA truck inspections focused on violations related to hours of service and lighting, which resulted in identifying:
- 1,203 hours of service violations or 41.5% of all driver out-of-service violations
- 1,367 lighting violations or 14.1% of all vehicle out-of-service violations
What are the CVSA International Truck Inspection Results?
The results for inspections are summarized below and include out-of-service vehicle, CMV driver, seatbelt, hazardous materials/dangerous goods and motorcoach violations.
There were 9,691 vehicles placed out-of-service with the top violation being for braking systems (26.5%). The list below summarizes the remainder of recorded vehicle violations.
Out-of-service vehicle violations:
| Vehicle violation category | Number of violations | Percent of out-of-service violations |
| Braking systems | 2564 | 26.5% |
| Tires and wheels | 1804 | 18.6% |
| Brake adjustment | 1203 | 12.4% |
| Cargo securement | 1192 | 12.3% |
| Lighting devices | 1367 | 14.1% |
There were 2,898 drivers placed out-of-service with the top violation being for hours of service. The list below summarizes the remainder of recorded driver violations.
Driver out-of-service violations:
| Driver violation category | Number of violations | Percent of out-of-service violations |
| Hours of Service | 1,203 | 41.5% |
| Wrong Class License | 565 | 19.5% |
| False Logs | 427 | 14.7% |
| Other | 482 | 16.6% |
| Suspended License | 132 | 4.6% |
Stay DOT compliant
Knowing what your CSA score is and how it affects your company and all of the requirements to pass inspections, whether it be for brake safety or suspension and steering, will allow you to stay compliant and plan your operations more efficiently.
All TTC services are geared toward keeping your trucking company safe and compliant so that you stay on the road and pass all truck inspections.