Results have come in for the Roadcheck event that was held this past June. The event, which hailed from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, sought to ensure the safety of roadways by offering inspections all across the country. In doing, around 20% of vehicles that were subject to the safety effort were reportedly taken out of service due to a violation of some sort.
Over the course of three days, more than 73,000 inspections were conducted throughout North America, and 47,771 of those were the most comprehensive type of inspection possible, the North American Standard Level I. Those types of inspections are designed to deduce whether drivers and their vehicles fall within both state and federal regulations. 24.1% of these inspections led to the vehicle being placed out of service.
The reasons for a vehicle and/or a driver being placed out of service varied. Just under half of such situations were attributed to problems with the brakes on the commercial vehicles. Another issue that could lead to a vehicle being taken out of commission was problems with securing the cargo. Problems in this regard accounted for 11.7% of vehicles taken out of service.
The Alliance explains that cargo issues are serious safety hazards due to the impact they can have on the road. Inspectors paid particular attention to whether chains and webbing were in disrepair, if items were tied down properly, and if the load itself was generally secured correctly in the trailer.