If you operate a trucking company, you’ve heard of Roadcheck. It happens every year around the same time and there really is no excuse to not be prepared for it. This year’s Roadcheck will occur between July 11 and July 17 and will focus on risky driving behaviors, such as:
- Speeding
- Reckless or aggressive driving
- Distracted driving
- Following too closely
- Improper lane change
- Failure to obey traffic control devices
- Drunk or drugged driving
Roadcheck is put on every year by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CSVA) and is otherwise known as Operation Safe Driver Week. The CSVA is a nonprofit association comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials and industry representatives. According to their website, the Alliance “aims to achieve uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial motor vehicle inspections and enforcement by certified inspectors dedicated to driver and vehicle safety.” Operation Safe Driver Week is part of this mission.
Why It is Needed
If you dig into the data, it isn’t hard to see why the annual Roadcheck program occurs. The data shows that traffic stops and interactions with enforcement officers reduces bad driving behaviors. Putting an emphasis on it and ensuring fleets understand they may be stopped during the Roadcheck week helps cement good behavior.
When a truck driver contacts law enforcement during Operation Safe Driver week, roadways become safer and high-risk driving behaviors are mitigated. And while the CSVA and enforcement officers will be watching for the above-mentioned transgressions, they will be placing a special emphasis on speeding.
They are focusing specifically on speeding because even though there was a big drop in road traffic in 2020, traffic fatalities still increased nationally. This is especially troubling considering many industry insiders expected crash and fatality numbers to drop with so few people on the roads. Unfortunately, that is not what happened.
According to the National Safety Council’s (NSC) estimates, in 2020 road deaths jumped by 24% over 2019. That is a not insignificant number. This is even considering that miles traveled decreased by 13%. That means that even with the drastic decrease in road traffic, fatalities jumped by the highest year-over-year percentage in nearly a century. This is definitely cause for alarm.
The Necessity of Roadcheck
Operation Safe Driver Week was initially conceived to shine a light on unsafe driving behaviors and create an environment to reduce the number of crashes happening on North American roads and highways. And while Roadcheck week is sponsored by the CSVA, it occurs in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and trucking industry stakeholders such as the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)
It is also important to remember that there is an international component to Roadcheck. International Roadcheck week is set to begin on May 4, which is just around the corner. In total, it involved 50,000 roadside inspections located at undisclosed locations across North America. Of course, this includes both Canada and Mexico.
Trucking companies need to be especially careful during Roadcheck week. Obviously, fleet managers should want to keep up a high level of safety all year, but Roadcheck week provides the impetus they need to really focus on behaviors and policies that improve fleet safety and decrease crashes and fatalities. To avoid a violation or even getting your operation shutdown, you need to make sure you are prepared.
Preparing for Roadcheck Week
The first step you should take in prepping for Roadcheck week is to make sure your commercial motor vehicles are ready. The easiest violation for you to get when Roadcheck week occurs are violations that occur because you or your truck drivers did not complete a thorough pre-trip inspection. Watch for the following common vehicle violations:
- Broken or non-functional lights (front, side, or rear)
- Expired annual inspections documentation
- Brake problems
- Fire extinguisher violations
- Improperly inflated tires
- Worn tire tread
- Inadequate cargo securement
While speeding is going to be of particular focus in this year’s Roadcheck, the CSVA and enforcement inspectors will also be paying close attention to lights. And since lights are an easy violation to get, fleet managers and truck drivers must also pay close attention to their proper functioning.
The best way to ensure you do not incur easily avoidable vehicle maintenance and upkeep violations during Roadcheck week, you must have a enforceable pre-trip, en-route, and post-trip inspection regime in place. Truck drivers must be especially vigilant for defects that occur at any point during their delivery. Even if they find no problems in the yard, a light could go out on the way. Keeping tabs on these things during Roadcheck week will prevent unnecessary violations.
Truck Drivers Beware
The next step in making sure you have a violation-free Roadcheck week is to make sure your truck drivers are properly prepared. Roadcheck inspections will go far smoother if your truck drivers are properly trained on the process and are ready to cooperate when they find themselves undergoing an inspection while on the road.
Make sure your truck drivers are professional, courteous, and follow all the inspection officer’s instructions. All documentation must be ready, and all questions asked must be answered truthfully. Do not inspect officer suspicion, otherwise you may find an audit on your doorstep. Truck drivers must know all hours-of-service info, use the right type of log or ELD, and know how to transfer documentation from the truck into the inspectors tablet or inspection device.
Common truck driver violations you and your operators need to keep an eye out for include:
- Hours of service/ELD violations
- Moving violations
- Invalid or suspended CDL
- Failing to use the seat belt
- Invalid or not current medical certificate
Truck drivers need to also ensure they are physically ready for an inspection. If they are pulled over during Roadcheck week and seem tired, ill, drugged, or drunk, expect a violation and to be put out of service.
Ensure Proper Documentation
When it comes to roadside inspections, you’ve got to worry about more than just how your trucks and truck drivers are doing. You also must pay very close attention to having proper documentation. Both your vehicles and your operators must ensure the proper paperwork, whether digital or physical, is always on them and ready for inspectors.
Make sire your commercial motor vehicles have the company name and DOT number clearly visible and on both sides. You also want to make sure you have proof of an annual inspection conducted in the past 12 months for each vehicle updated and in the vehicle.
If you need permit credentials, such as cab cards or IFTA licenses and decals or state authority credentials and insurance cards, all of that must be up-to-date and in the vehicle. If you require hazmat registration or have mileage tax permits, make sure those are also available for inspectors to review when they begin an inspection.
If you are in the middle of a haul, you need to make sure bills of lading, shipping papers, and any lease or ownership agreements for the vehicles are readily available. If you have an ELD, ensure the user manual, user instructions, transfer instructions, and backup logs are ready to go. Truck drivers must always be ready to display and transfer their logs upon request. If your operators are running under any inspections, they need to be able to verify and explain why they are operating under said exceptions.
By ensuring your truck drivers are ready for Roadcheck week, you can make sure to avoid unnecessary violations. The last thing you want is an audit or to have your vehicles put out of service because you were not ready. Ensure you have everything ready to go and your truck drivers are prepped. And more than anything, make sure these preparations are completed year-round, and not just for Roadcheck week. This way you can ensure you are running a safe and effective trucking operation.