Are Your Drivers Ready for Brake Safety Week 2023?

Get your drivers ready for this year's Brake Safety Week! Read our Safety Bulletin to learn more about Brake Safety Week and be prepared for inspections! Read the entire bulletin here and sign up for future safety bulletins delivered to your inbox!

The annual Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) Brake Safety Week is around the corner and is scheduled for August 20-26. Brake Safety Week identifies and removes commercial motor vehicles with critical brake violations from our roadways. Properly functioning brake systems reinforce safe CMV operation. Brakes require routine inspections and maintenance to operate and perform to the manufacturer's specifications. Improperly installed or poorly maintained brake systems can reduce braking efficiency, posing severe risks to public safety on our roadways.

Data and research are clear:

• According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Large Truck Crash Causation (LTCC) Study, 32.7 percent of large trucks with pre-crash violations had brake problems.
• Brake-related violations comprised the most significant percentage of out-of-service vehicle violations cited during this year's Road Check America. Year: 2023 - CVSA – Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
• The LTCC Study's Relative Risk Analysis indicated that large trucks involved in a crash where the braking capacity of the truck was critical were 50 percent more likely to have a brake violation than were trucks involved in crashes where the truck's braking capacity was not critical.
• According to the LTCC Study, of the trucks involved in brake-critical crashes, 45.5 percent had brake violations, compared with 29.9 percent of trucks involved in crashes of the same type where the braking was irrelevant.
• Results from View the 2022 results press release found that 13.3 percent of all inspections conducted during that one-day brake safety initiative resulted in a CMV being placed out of service for brake-related violations.

Conducting brake checks reduces the number of crashes caused by poorly maintained braking systems and removes dangerous vehicles from the road.

Outreach efforts by law enforcement agencies to educate drivers, mechanics, owner-operators, and others on the importance of proper brake maintenance, operation, and performance are integral to the success of the safety initiative.

During Brake Safety Week, inspectors will conduct the North American Standard Level I Inspection. This 37-step procedure includes examining driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical fitness. Inspections conducted will consist of an assessment of brake-system components to identify loose or missing parts; air or hydraulic fluid leaks; defective rotor conditions; measurement of pushrod travel; mismatched air chamber sizes across axles; air reservoir integrity and mounting; worn linings, pads, drums or rotors; required brake-system warning devices; and other brake-system components. Vehicles with defective or out-of-adjustment brakes will be placed out of service.

In addition, vehicle braking efficiency will be measured in the 12 jurisdictions using performance-based brake testing (PBBT) equipment. PBBTs measure the cumulative brake force for the entire vehicle and divide it by the total vehicle weight to determine overall vehicle braking efficiency. The minimum braking efficiency for trucks is 43.5 percent, required by 393.52 of the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and the CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria.

Brake Safety Week is part of the Operation Airbrake Program, sponsored by CVSA in partnership with the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators and the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

What You May Not Know About Brake Systems and Inspections

Automatic brake adjusters are required

How to verify that your ABS is working

What is a PBBT inspection?

What is the proper method for a driver to adjust brakes with a unit with automatic slack adjusters?

Answer: The proper method is to apply ten sharp brake applications daily and just before an entry of a roadside inspection.

Bill to Prevent Speed Limiter Rule Introduced in Senate

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) has introduced legislation, S. 2671, to prevent the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from using any funds to issue a rule or promulgate a regulation to require commercial motor vehicles 26,000 pounds GVW and above to be equipped with speed-limiting devices. Rep. Josh Brecheen and five cosponsors introduced an identical bill, H.R. 3039, in the House earlier this year.

The FMCSA issued an Advance Notice of Supplemental Proposed Rulemaking entitled "Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operations; Speed Limiting Devices," 86 Fed. Reg. 26317 (May 4, 2022). The ANPRM would require all vehicles to 26,000 lbs. GVW and over-equipped with an electronic engine control unit capable of governing the maximum speed to have speed limiters set at some level to be determined.

NPTC filed comments on the ANPRM stating that the Council generally has supported legislative and regulatory efforts that would establish nationally uniform standards for motor carrier safety requirements. Still, this issue involves one area where geographic disparities override the need for national uniformity. NPTC comments cited geography, congestion, and road types as factors in varying carrier practices—we do not support a uniform nationwide speed limit for CMVs. Most NPTC members already use speed limiters from 62-68 mph.

The next step for FMCSA is to publish an actual proposed rule with the mph limit(s) set in the proposal. Interested parties will have another chance for comments before the agency issues a final rule.

CVSA Releases 2023 International Roadcheck Results

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has released the results of its 2023 International Roadcheck. On May 16-18, 59,429 commercial motor vehicles were inspected in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. as part of a 72-hour inspection and enforcement initiative. According to CVSA, 81% of the commercial motor vehicles and 94.5% of the commercial motor vehicle drivers inspected had no out-of-service violations.

CVSA-certified inspectors discovered at least one out-of-service violation on 19% of the vehicles inspected and, in turn, removed those 11,270 CMVs from roadways until the out-of-service abuses were corrected. There were 17,479 vehicle out-of-service violations in total.

In addition, inspectors also restricted 5.5% (3,256) of the CMV drivers inspected who were found to have at least one out-of-service driver violation.

CVSA Releases 2023 International Roadcheck Results

National Truck Driver Appreciation Week is September 10-16, 2023

Truck drivers keep our world running; they work endlessly to deliver the goods and resources people need. National Truck Driver Appreciation Week is an essential time for America to respect and thank all professional truck drivers for their hard work and commitment to undertaking one of our economy's most demanding and vital jobs. These 3.5 million professional men and women deliver our goods safely, securely, and on time; they also keep our highways safe.

Americans and Canadians have taken extraordinary steps to show appreciation for the vital work that professional truck drivers have done. From children passing out lunches to "I Heart Truck" signs across the highways, the public has noticed truck drivers' essential role in their lives.

This week in September is a small way to show appreciation to the 3.5 million professional men and women who deliver our goods and keep our highways safe. Start planning to do something special for your drivers this week in September that we set aside to recognize them.

Driver Recognition Awards

Driver Appreciation Week is an excellent time to review the award and recognition programs you have in place—meriting awards to drivers who perform safely and competently builds morale. A recognition award should make the driver or employee feel appreciated within the organization.

Recognition awards should be personalized and received due to an employee's performance. Awarding individuals among their peers will motivate others to have stellar safety and performance.

As a motor carrier, you can enroll your drivers in several state and nationwide association award programs. Contact your state trucking association for a listing of the available awards programs. Various awards programs are available for your drivers through organizations such as the American Trucking Association (www.truckline.com) and the National Private Truck Council (NPTC). The NPTC has the Driver Hall of Fame and National Driver All-Stars driver's awards programs available to NPTC members. Go to: www.nptc.org to enroll your driver.

Driver Incentive Awards:

Incentive monetary awards motivate a driver to perform. These incentive programs successfully encourage the driver to achieve a specific goal, such as a particular fuel mileage or a clean roadside inspection.

Registration is now open online for the 2023 Idealease/NPTC Safety Seminars!

Idealease and the National Private Truck Council NPTC will again host safety seminars in 2023.  The one-day seminar this year will focus on data available from trucks today with regard to safety, basic safety and compliance, regulation changes, and CSA. The seminars will be provided to all Idealease customers, potential customers, and NPTC members at no charge.   The seminar provides essential information applicable to both novice and experienced transportation professionals.  Seminars currently available for registration have their venues secured.  If you cannot register for the seminar in your area, check back, as registration availability will be added as the venues are secured.  This information will be updated weekly in this bulletin.  To register for an upcoming seminar in 2023, click here.   

FALL SEMINARS (Sept-Oct)

CVSA’s Brake Safety Week Scheduled for Aug. 20-26

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has scheduled this year’s Brake Safety Week for Aug. 20-26 with a focus on brake lining/pad violations.

During Brake Safety Week, commercial motor vehicle inspectors highlight the importance of brake systems by conducting inspections of their components and removing commercial motor vehicles found to have brake-related out-of-service violations from our roadways until those violations are corrected.

CVSA’s Operation Airbrake Program is dedicated to improving commercial vehicle brake safety throughout North America. The goal is to reduce the number of highway crashes caused by faulty braking systems on commercial motor vehicles by conducting roadside inspections and educating drivers, mechanics, owner-operators, and others on the importance of proper brake inspection, maintenance, and operation.

*The Idealease Safety Bulletin is provided for Idealease locations and their customers and is not to be construed as a complete or exhaustive source of compliance or safety information. The Idealease Safety Bulletin is advisory in nature and does not warrant, guarantee, or otherwise certify compliance with laws, regulations, requirements, or guidelines of any local, state, or Federal agency and/or governing body, or industry standard.