May 4-6, 2021, has been set as the 2021 International Roadcheck by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). Over those 72 hours, commercial motor vehicle inspectors in jurisdictions throughout the U.S. will conduct inspections on commercial motor vehicles and drivers.
Inspectors will be looking for critical vehicle inspection item violations outlined in the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria. If such violations are found, the vehicle will be placed out of service, which means that vehicle cannot be operated until the identified out-of-service conditions have been corrected.
Vehicles that successfully pass inspection without any critical vehicle inspection item violations found after a completed Level I or Level V Inspection should receive a CVSA decal. In general, vehicles with a CVSA decal are not re-inspected during the three-month period during which the decal is valid. Instead, inspectors focus their efforts on vehicles without a valid CVSA decal.
Also, during an inspection, inspectors will check the driver’s operating credentials and hours-of-service documentation. A driver will be placed out of service if an inspector discovers driver-related out-of-service conditions.
Each year, CVSA asks its member jurisdictions to capture and report data focusing on a certain category of violations during International Roadcheck. This year, inspectors will capture data on two categories, corresponding to the two main inspection categories of the North American Standard Level I Inspection – driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical fitness. For the driver category, hours of service will be highlighted this year, and for the vehicle category, inspectors will be paying particular attention to lighting. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the lighting violation “lamps inoperable” (Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations 393.9) was the number one vehicle violation in fiscal 2020.