Starting June 4 and running 72 hours straight, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and its members across the United States, Canada and Mexico, will be participating in Roadcheck 2013—the 26th annual enforcement and outreach campaign promoting commercial vehicle safety. Ensuring compliance with the U.S., Canadian and Mexican federal, provincial and state motor carrier safety regulations will be a top priority for both enforcement and industry during the event. Approximately three times the typical daily number of inspections will be conducted during the campaign. This year, in addition to North American Standard Level I inspections, Roadcheck is focusing special enforcement attention on passenger carrying commercial vehicles—motorcoaches and buses—as well as proper securement of cargo.

CVSA President Mark Savage, a major with the Colorado State Patrol, said, “Roadcheck gives the Alliance and its members a powerful and high-visibility mechanism to spotlight the critical role of comprehensive commercial vehicle driver and vehicle safety inspections to prevent roadway tragedies. In addition to our U.S. kick-off for Roadcheck, we are pleased to report that CVSA is also holding an official launch event in Canada. This is the first time an international Roadcheck kick-off event will take place on Canadian soil.”

From June 4-6, inspectors across North America will conduct Level I inspections of trucks, tractor-trailers, buses and motorcoaches, and submit inspection records to their state, provincial and federal jurisdiction systems for analyses. CVSA compares overall inspection results with past years and maintains current results to help identify trends and to measure program effectiveness.

On June 4, the U.S. kick-off and media event for Roadcheck 2013 will take place outside of Washington, DC, in Landover, Maryland. FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro, CVSA President Mark Savage and representatives from the Maryland State Police and industry will be among those in attendance. The event will feature demonstrations of motorcoach inspections, as well as other special enforcement operations.

On the following day, June 5, officials from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, FMCSA, International Association of Chiefs of Police, and local law enforcement, as well as representatives from industry, will join CVSA Mark Savage in Niagara Falls, Ontario for second official media event for Roadcheck 2013. This event will also feature a demonstration of a motorcoach inspection.

“Ontario has some of the toughest commercial vehicle laws and with decades of effective enforcement and a successful partnership with the CVSA Roadcheck, Ontario’s roads are among the safest in North America,”said the Honourable Glen Murray, Ontario Minister of Transportation.

Additionally, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has provided to each state and province quick reference visor cards, for distribution to drivers during Roadcheck 2013, with information about the new Hours-of-Service requirements that take effect July 1, 2013. Hours of service regulation compliance is especially important since driver fatigue is a significant factor in commercial vehicle crashes.

“This year’s Roadcheck comes at a perfect time to get the word out on our new hours-of-service rule. The rule, which state and federal officials will begin enforcing on July 1, draws the line on fatigued driving,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro.

About one in ten out-of-service violations issued during Roadcheck are for improper loading, also known as improper cargo securement. These violations are serious because the loss of any article of cargo onto the roadway becomes an imminent danger to other motorists. Meanwhile, a shifting of a load upon or within the vehicle itself can cause vehicle instability and loss of control. Drivers are responsible for the securement of the proper loading of the cargo they carry, so even if they don’t load the vehicle themselves, they need to be aware of the proper loading procedures and regulations for what they carry.

Also for this year, CVSA is pleased to partner with the International Association of Chiefs of Police to encourage all their member law enforcement agencies to conduct traffic enforcement activities on bus and motorcoach operators during Roadcheck.

Most motor carriers on our roadways are responsible and actively work to maintain a maximum level of safety in their operations. Roadcheck helps to remind carriers of the importance of maintenance and compliance with the safety regulations. CVSA provides a number of resources to drivers and carriers on its Roadcheck program website accessible from http://www.cvsa.org/programs.