CVSA Safety Blitz
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) had postponed the annual International Roadcheck inspection campaign indefinitely, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which was planned for May 5 – 7. CVSA plans to go forward with Operation Safe Driver Week and Brake Safety Week.
2020 Operation Safe Driver Week
Operation Safe Driver Week will go on as scheduled, July 12-18, 2020. Law enforcement agencies throughout North America will increase patrols, targeting dangerous driving behaviours from both passenger vehicle drivers and commercial vehicle drivers. Dangerous driving behaviours include speeding, distracted driving, impaired driving, unsafe lane changes and failure to obey a traffic device.
During last year’s 2019 Operation Safe Driver Week enforcement effort – 46,752 citations and 87,624 warnings were issued to both passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle drivers, according to the CVSA results.
CVSA selected speeding as the emphasis area for last year’s Operation Safe Driver Week. Speeding/violations of the basic speed law/driving too fast for conditions was the most cited violation last year with 17,556 total citations. Passenger vehicle drivers were issued 16,102 citations and 21,001 warnings, and CMV drivers received 1,454 citations and 2,126 warnings.
The CVSA has more concerns about speed on the highway, in the past few months, as the traffic volumes – and congestion – have plummeted due to pandemic lockdowns.
“According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, less traffic may be encouraging some drivers to ignore traffic safety laws, including speed limits. Despite there being far fewer vehicles on the road due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, many jurisdictions are seeing a severe spike in speeding.
As the number of vehicles on roadways decreased in March and April, average speeds measured during the first week of April increased significantly in the five largest U.S. metropolitan areas. According to recent data, the average speed on interstate highways, state highways and expressways in those areas increased by as much as 75% compared to January and February.” The CVSA states on their website.
2020 Brake Safety Week
The CVSA Brake Safety Week is scheduled for Aug. 23-29, 2020. In addition, a single day unannounced inspection effort could take place at any time throughout the year. During Brake Safety Week, inspectors perform primarily Level IV Inspections on commercial vehicles to identify out-of-adjustment brakes and brake-system violations. Brake-related violations comprise the largest percentage of all out-of-service violations cited during roadside inspections. The week is an annual outreach and enforcement campaign designed to improve commercial vehicle brake safety throughout North America.
Last year 13.5% of the commercial motor vehicles inspected during 2019 Brake Safety Week were removed from roadways specifically for brake-related vehicle inspection item violations. Inspectors conducted 34,320 commercial motor vehicle inspections as part of the CVSA Brake Safety Week and placed 4,626 vehicles out of service after critical brake-related conditions were identified during roadside inspections. The majority of commercial motor vehicles inspected (86.5%) did not have any critical brake-related inspection item violations.
Safety and Compliance
As always, we expect zero violations fleet-wide at Len Dubois Trucking. Safety is our top priority and it is a team effort. Safety and compliance take cooperation between drivers, dispatch, maintenance, and our safety departments. Our drivers should contact John or Ken in Safety and Compliance if they have any safety or compliance questions.
