This year, 3,248 trucks were placed out of service for brake-related violations — 15.3 percent of the 21,255 trucks inspected. In 2011, 14.2 percent of the 30,872 vehicles inspected were placed out of service, and 13.5 percent were issued out-of-service notices in 2010.
Brake adjustment violations accounted for 1,993, 9.4 percent, of the out-of-service notices, and 1,664 were placed out of service for brake component violations. There was some crossover, so the numbers add up to more than the total 3,248.
This year’s violation rate was also higher than 2009’s, in which 15.1 percent of inspected vehicles were placed out of service, but lower than 2007 and 2008 — 17.8 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively.
Brake Safety Week is a spur campaign of Operation Airbrake, a program put on by CVSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and is held because “brakes were cited as an associated factor in nearly three of ten CMV crashes,” says the CVSA announcement, referencing a study by Large Crash Causation.
