Roadside inspections come under fire at CVSA workshop

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American Trucking Associations’ Vice Chair Phil Byrd aimed pointedly today the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s focus on roadside inspections at the state level, referencing data saying that just 10 percent of crashes are caused by vehicle malfunction.

Byrd spoke at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s workshop in Louisville, Ky.

The remaining 87 percent, Byrd said, are somehow caused by the driver, a number he says should make FMCSA concentrate more on enforcing traffic laws and less on inspections.

However, FMCSA administrator Anne Ferro defended inspections as one of the key elements of more generally identifying unsafe carriers and as a way to increase visibility of enforcement officers to encourage drivers to follow traffic laws like speed limits, seatbelt requirements and not drive fatigued.

CCJ sister site Overdrive has the full report from the CVSA workshop, where Overdrive Senior Editor Todd Dills has been reporting from this week.

Click here to see the story.