USDOT Agency Nixes Upgraded Rear Impact Guards
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month rejected that the agency mandate stricter upgrades to rear impact guards on semi-trailers.
Commercial enforcement conducted 48,761 inspections during this year’s International Roadcheck. 77% of commercial trucks and 95.2% of commercial drivers had no out-of-service violations.
Commercial enforcement personnel in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. conducted 48,761 inspections during this year’s International Roadcheck, which took place May 14-16. The good news is that 77% of commercial trucks and 95.2% of commercial drivers had no out-of-service violations.
On the other hand, inspectors discovered 13,567 vehicle, 2,714 driver and 163 hazardous materials/dangerous goods out-of-service (OOS) violations, and placed 9,345 commercial vehicle combinations and 2,290 drivers out of service. The total overall vehicle OOS rate was 23%, and the driver OOS rate was 4.8%. The largest category of vehicle violations was defective brakes which were 25% of OOS actions. Hours of Services violations led the driver OOS at 32.1%.
Each year, International Roadcheck places special emphasis on a category of vehicle violations and a category of driver violations. The vehicle emphasis area this year was on tractor protection systems (TPS), including:
Inspectors identified 564 TPS-related violations on commercial motor vehicle combinations. Tractor protection systems safeguard the tractor’s air supply and prevent air loss when the tractor is not connected to a trailer or if the trailer breaks away.
International Roadcheck is a three-day commercial motor vehicle and driver inspection, enforcement and data-gathering initiative. Law enforcement jurisdictions throughout North America voluntarily participate in International Roadcheck with support from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada, and Mexico’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month rejected that the agency mandate stricter upgrades to rear impact guards on semi-trailers.
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and now Hurricane Helene in 2024, with Milton bearing down on the Gulf Coast! Major storms, with major disaster areas and the need for emergency supplies, most of which come by truck.
FMCSA is hard at work on a new online registration system, to “improve the transparency and efficiency of FMCSA’s registration procedures”.