Brake inspection blitz scheduled for May

BETHESDA, Md. (April 12, 2002) — Truck enforcement officials will launch an unannounced, day-long brake-examination blitz at roadside inspection stations sometime next month, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced yesterday.

The inspections are part of “Operation Air Brake,” an ongoing campaign sponsored by the CVSA and the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators. They will take place in Canada, the United States, and Mexico over a 12-hour period and use CVSA Level IV inspection detail focusing on commercial vehicle braking systems.

The CVSA is an association of enforcement agencies.

Last September, nearly 18% of vehicles checked were removed from service during an inspection blitz that was announced weeks in advance. Seventy-five percent of these out-of-service orders were for brakes out of adjustment. Of the nearly 93,000 brakes checked, 29,000 were equipped with manual slack adjusters and about 64,000 had automatic slack adjusters. Nine percent of the brakes with manual slack adjusters and 3.7% of the brakes with automatic slack adjusters were placed out of service.