DPS Joins National Effort to Inspect Commercial Vehicles

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers, inspectors and investigators today begin intensified commercial vehicle inspections (from June 2 – 4) as part of Roadcheck 2015, an annual nationwide three-day enforcement effort to increase motor carrier, vehicle, driver and cargo safety and security. DPS troopers will be on the lookout for 18-wheelers and buses with serious equipment violations and drivers not in compliance with state and federal requirements.

“Reducing crashes and protecting the public’s safety while on the road is a primary goal for DPS, and Roadcheck 2015 is an important part of our effort to encourage compliance regarding commercial vehicles and their drivers,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw. “The safety of Texas roadways depends on all drivers – commercial and passenger – obeying traffic laws and avoiding dangerous or aggressive driving behaviors.”

In addition to Roadcheck, DPS periodically carries out additional enforcement efforts in targeted areas where a high volume of trucks or buses may be operating.

During Roadcheck 2015, specially trained troopers and civilian personnel will inspect commercial vehicles for equipment violations involving brakes, tires, lights and loading standards. Troopers will check driver licenses and log books, which document how long the driver has been on the road. In conjunction with these efforts, DPS will also be watching for aggressive passenger vehicle drivers, the cause of most commercial vehicle crashes.

In 2014, DPS and other Texas law enforcement agencies participating in Roadcheck inspected 8,714 commercial vehicles. The inspections found that approximately 21 percent of the vehicles had serious violations that required the truck or bus be placed out of service until repairs could be made. Inspectors also placed 263 drivers out of service for various violations, including not properly tracking hours of driving, driving over the maximum number of hours, and failing to have the proper type of driver license for the vehicle being driven.

Sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Association (CVSA), the Roadcheck program, which stretches from Mexico to Canada, is designed to reduce commercial vehicle highway fatalities through increased vehicle safety. According to the CVSA, the program has been responsible for more than a million roadside inspections and saved hundreds of lives to date.

Each year, Roadcheck places special emphasis on a category of violations. This year the emphasis is on cargo securement, and CVSA will be highlighting cargo safety as a reminder that proper loading and securing of cargo on vehicles is a matter of public safety.

For more information on the Roadcheck program, please visit: http://www.cvsa.org/programs/int_roadcheck_2015.php.