Starting June 4 and running 72 hours straight, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and its members across the United States, Canada and Mexico, will be participating in Roadcheck 2013—the 26th annual enforcement and outreach campaign promoting commercial vehicle safety. Ensuring compliance with the U.S., Canadian and Mexican federal, provincial and state motor carrier safety regulations will be a top priority for both enforcement and industry during the event. Approximately three times the typical daily number of inspections will be conducted during the campaign. This year, in addition to North American Standard Level I inspections, Roadcheck is focusing special enforcement attention on passenger carrying commercial vehicles—motorcoaches and buses—as well as proper securement of cargo.
Additionally, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has provided to each state and province quick reference visor cards, for distribution to drivers during Roadcheck 2013, with information about the new Hours-of-Service requirements that take effect July 1, 2013. Hours of service regulation compliance is reported to be especially important since driver fatigue is a significant factor in commercial vehicle crashes.
“This year’s Roadcheck comes at a perfect time to get the word out on our new hours-of-service rule. The rule, which state and federal officials will begin enforcing on July 1, draws the line on fatigued driving,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro.
Based on past years' statistics, expect drivers to be pulled over at a higher rate than normal and also taken out of service at a higher rate as well.