International Roadcheck Set for May 4-6, 2021, with Emphasis on Lighting and Hours of Service

CVSA International Roadcheck

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck is set for tomorrow, May 4th through May 6th, 2021.

During this 72 hour period, inspectors throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico conduct inspections on commercial motor vehicles to highlight the importance of proactive maintenance and driver preparedness on the road.

While this may sound intimidating to some, long-time truck drivers have grown accustomed to this annual ritual.

We’ve pulled together some of the best tips we can find for making CVSA International Roadcheck as easy as possible for you this year.

First of all, there is no need to stress. The checks that happen during CVSA International Roadcheck are no different than the types of checks your drivers and trucks may encounter during the rest of the year.

The only difference is that during this time frame, the frequency of inspections are increased and inspectors are collecting data on the types of violations they are finding to help better understand safety issues on the road.

This year, the inspections will focus on lighting and hours of service, areas that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration identified as two of the leading violations from 2020 inspections.

Convoy wants to help carriers stay safe and prepared while on the road. Take a read through this list to make sure you are ready to go:

1. Stay within your hours of service. Make staying compliant with hours of service even easier by using an ELD. ELDs, or Electronic Logging Devices, track your drivers’ hours of service and can provide a report to law enforcement when requested, saving them the hassle of logging their time on the road by hand. Carriers can use our exclusive 15% discount on KeepTruckin’s top-rated ELDs, which feature DOT Inspection Mode, as well as monthly subscription costs. Access your discount here.
2. Stay ahead of maintenance issues. Preventative maintenance on your power units and trailers ensures peace of mind during roadchecks. Companies like Boss Preventative Maintenance can make it easy to resolve issues without large, unexpected costs. Save up to 20% on preventative maintenance through Convoy’s TruckYeah Savings program.
3. Have your documents prepared. Ensure your documents are in order ahead of time, including valid drivers licenses, Medical Examiner’s Certificate, Skill Performance Evaluation Certificate (if applicable), driver’s record of duty status, hours of service log, and prior vehicle inspection report(s) (if applicable). Check out the CVSA’s inspection procedure sheet for additional information on the documents and steps to take to ensure your drivers and trucks are ready for the road.

Don’t forget to read the CVSA 2021 Flyer (below) that dives deep into the 2021 areas of focus to ensure you and your drivers are prepared to hit the road. To all the drivers on the road safely keeping our country moving, we say thank you!

International Roadcheck Focus Areas: Hours of Service and Lighting

Mark Your Calendar May 4-6, 2021

International Roadcheck will take place May 4-6. Over that 72-hour period, commercial motor vehicle inspectors in jurisdictions throughout North America will conduct inspections on commercial motor vehicles and drivers.

During International Roadcheck, inspectors primarily conduct the North American Standard Level I Inspection, a 37-step procedure that includes two main inspection categories: an examination of driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical fitness. This year, inspectors will focus on one driver operating requirement category (hours of service) and one vehicle mechanical fitness category (lighting).

Driver Requirements – Hours of Service

Drivers of commercial property-carrying vehicles and passenger-carrying vehicles are subject to rules that limit the hours spent driving and working and regulate the minimum amount of time drivers must rest between driving shifts. Canada, Mexico and the U.S. all have strict hours-ofservice regulations in place to help reduce the occurrence of driver fatigue.

Vehicle Requirements – Lighting

Lighting devices include headlamps, tail lamps, clearance lamps, identification lamps, license plate and side marker lamps, stop lamps, turn signals and lamps on projecting loads. All required lighting devices are inspected for proper color, operation, mounting and visibility. The condition and location of reflectors and retroreflective sheeting are also inspected.

The top vehicle violation in the U.S. in fiscal 2020 was inoperable required lamp, accounting for 12.2% of all vehicle violations and 4.4% of all out-of-service vehicle violations. Moreover, taking into account all possible lighting-related violations issued in fiscal 2020, one in four vehicles chosen for inspection (25.3%) was issued a lighting-related violation. Slightly more than one in seven out-of-service violations (16.4%) in the U.S. was lighting related.

These violations can be largely avoided by checking the condition and location of reflectors and retroreflective sheeting, and by checking all required lamps/turn signals mentioned above and ensuring they are operative, properly mounted and not obscured in any way.

For more information on International Roadcheck, visit www.roadcheck.org.

If you are a carrier who is already signed up with Convoy, click here to find your next load.

For carriers who have never used the Convoy platform before, click here to sign up!

About the Convoy Team

Convoy is the nation’s most efficient digital freight network. We move thousands of truckloads around the country each day through our optimized, connected network of carriers, saving money for shippers, increasing earnings for drivers, and eliminating carbon waste for our planet. We use technology and data to solve problems of waste and inefficiency in the $800B trucking industry, which generates over 72 million metric tons of wasted CO2 emissions from empty trucks. Fortune 500 shippers like Anheuser-Busch, P&G, Niagara, and Unilever trust Convoy to lower costs, increase logistics efficiency, and achieve environmental sustainability targets.

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