Dive Brief:
- The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has postponed International Roadcheck, originally scheduled for May 5-7, due to the novel coronavirus, according to a press release Wednesday. CVSA has not announced new dates.
- On Tuesday, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), in a joint letter with Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), called on CVSA Executive Director Collin Mooney to postpone the three-day safety inspection event.
- Operation Safe Driver week is still scheduled for July 12-18, and Brake Safety week is still scheduled for Aug. 23-29, CVSA said.
Dive Insight:
Last year's International Roadcheck resulted in the removal of 12,019 vehicles from roadways due to inspection violations. And 2,784 drivers were placed out of service for driver-related violations.
Postponing the inspections will allow more trucks to stay on the road as they transport critical supplies. But roadside safety inspections and traffic enforcement will continue every day, CVSA said in its press release, as enforcement personnel conduct business "as appropriate."
"As you know, trucking companies and drivers are working overtime right now to ensure that food, medical supplies and other emergency products needed to combat the COVID-19 crisis get to their end destination as efficiently and safely as possible," the OOIDA/TIA letter stated, according to OOIDA's media outlet Land Line. "The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recognized this and relaxed the hours-of-service requirements. We need these drivers to continue to operate on our nation’s highways without the threat of being stopped during the mandatory road check."
During the annual International Roadcheck event, which began in 1988, CVSA-certified inspectors conduct compliance, enforcement and educational efforts, targeted at elements of carrier, vehicle and driver safety. CVSA says International Roadcheck is the "largest targeted enforcement program on commercial motor vehicles in the world, with nearly 15 trucks or buses inspected, on average, every minute across North America during a 72-hour period." The FMCSA, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada, and Mexico's Secretariat of Communications and Transportation participate in the event.
The letter also notes, according to Land Line, small trucking businesses make up 96% of registered motor carriers in the U.S. and many continue to operate in response to COVID-19. The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) reported "unprecedented" truck movement in a release Tuesday, as the movement of essential goods continues.
"This experience is unprecedented in our modern society and we need to do all that we can to help stop the spread of this global pandemic," said Sgt. John Samis, president of CVSA and a member of the Delaware State Police, in the press release.