CVSA Reschedules 2020 International Roadcheck for September 9-11

In August 2020, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) set new dates for its International Roadcheck inspection blitz. Roadcheck had been postponed because of COVID-19. On August 10, 2020, CVSA announced that the event would run September 9–11, 2020.

Background: a first-ever postponement

Roadcheck had been scheduled for May 5–7, 2020. On March 25, CVSA postponed it, citing public health, and said it would pick new dates when it was safe to do so. CVSA noted that Roadcheck had run on schedule for the previous 32 years. The alliance stressed that ordinary roadside inspections and traffic enforcement would continue every day in the meantime.

In the August announcement, CVSA President Sgt. John Samis of the Delaware State Police said jurisdictions were nearly back to their pre-pandemic inspection capacity.

What Roadcheck involves

International Roadcheck is a 72-hour, high-volume inspection and enforcement event. CVSA-certified inspectors in Canada, Mexico and the United States check trucks and drivers at weigh and inspection stations, at fixed locations and on roving patrols. They use the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria to decide whether a vehicle or driver must be taken off the road until problems are fixed.

Most inspections during the event are North American Standard Level I inspections, a 37-step procedure covering both driver requirements and vehicle mechanical condition. Depending on conditions and staffing, inspectors may instead do a Level II walk-around, a Level III driver and credentials check, or a Level V vehicle-only inspection. CVSA said inspectors would follow their own agencies' pandemic health and safety procedures.

The 2020 focus: driver requirements

Each Roadcheck highlights one category of violations, and for 2020 it was driver requirements. CVSA cited FMCSA data showing that about 3.36 million inspections were done in 2019, turning up 952,938 driver violations, of which 199,722 were out-of-service conditions.

For the driver part of an inspection, CVSA said inspectors would:

• collect and check the driver's documents and identify the carrier;
• examine the driver's licence;
• check the record of duty status and periodic inspection reports;
• where they apply, check the medical examiner's certificate, Skill Performance Evaluation certificate and daily vehicle inspection report;
• check seat belt use and look for illness, fatigue and signs of alcohol or drug possession or impairment.

Drivers without proper credentials, impaired or fatigued drivers, and drivers in violation of hours-of-service rules could be placed out of service.

How to prepare

With the event a month away, carriers had time to check that every driver's licence, medical certificate and record of duty status were in order. Vehicle items were still checked as well, including brakes, cargo securement, coupling devices, lights, steering, suspension, tires and wheels.

In Canada, inspectors check compliance using the National Safety Code and provincial and territorial rules. Roadcheck is run by CVSA with participation from FMCSA, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada and Mexico's transport ministry.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of August 2020. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.