Brake Safety Week scheduled for August

Brake Safety Week has been scheduled for late August this year.

In addition, however, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance also says there will be a one-day brake safety enforcement initiative, which may be held at any time.

Brake Safety Week is scheduled for Aug. 22-28

During both the announced and unannounced brake safety enforcement campaigns, commercial motor vehicle inspectors conduct brake system inspections (primarily Level IV Inspections) on large trucks and buses in the United States, Canada and Mexico to identify brake-system violations.

Brake Safety Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. August is designated as Brake Safety Awareness Month.

More than 3.4 million brakes have been inspected since the program’s inception in 1998.

According to CVSA:

• Brake system and brake adjustment violations accounted for more vehicle violations than any other vehicle violation category, accounting for 38.6% of all vehicle out-of-service conditions, during last year’s three-day International Roadcheck inspection and enforcement initiative.
• “Brake system” was the third most cited vehicle-related factor in fatal commercial motor vehicle and passenger vehicle crashes, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s latest “Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts” report.
• Brake-related violations accounted for eight out of the top 20 vehicle violations in 2020, according to FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Management Information System.

Stats from last year’s Brake Safety Week

During the 2020 Brake Safety Week, which took place Aug. 23-29, 12% of the 43,565 commercial motor vehicles inspected were placed out of service for brake-related violations.

Inspectors from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. removed 5,156 commercial motor vehicles from roadways due to brake violations during the week-long inspection and enforcement event.

A total of 6,697 hose chafing violations were reported in a separate data query from participating jurisdictions.

Eighty-eight percent of the commercial motor vehicles inspected did not have brake-related critical vehicle inspection item violations. Vehicles that did not have any out-of-service conditions during a Level I or Level V Inspection may have received a CVSA decal. A decal, valid for up to three months, signifies that the vehicle was recently inspected by a CVSA-certified inspector and that vehicle had no critical vehicle inspection item violations. LL