Brake Safety Week 2016

If there’s one piece of equipment that anyone driving a truck — or driving alongside a truck — wants to feel sure is in top working order it’s the brakes. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has been conducting annual brake safety events since 1998, as part of its Operation Airbrake program.

Now CVSA’s Brake Safety Week is coming up, September 11-17, with inspectors examining brake systems for:

• Loose or missing parts
• Air or hydraulic fluid leaks
• Worn linings, pads, drums or rotors and other faulty components
• ABS malfunction indicator lights

Drivers can expect to see their trucks get a Level 1 inspection, and in 10 jurisdictions that use performance-based brake testing (PBBT), braking efficiency will be tested. According to CVSA, PBBTs do this with “direct measurements of the brake forces at each wheel end, axle or for the entire vehicle.” The minimum braking efficiency is 43.5 percent. Any lower indicates that something is wrong with the brake, even if no violation is found.

During last year’s Brake Safety Week more than 18,000 trucks were examined, with 12.3 percent placed out of service for violations. On its Unannounced Brake Check Day, on May 4, 2016, inspectors looked at more than 6,000 commercial vehicles and placed 12.4 percent out of service for brake violations.

Some of the findings could be instructive for fleets preparing for the inspection blitz coming up. Inspectors were twice as likely to find violations with trailers that required anti-lock braking systems, and a fair number of ABS-equipped trucks had faulty or non-functioning indicator lights.

A few people have grumbled about the coincidence of Brake Safety Week happening the same time as National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. But what could show more appreciation of drivers than ensuring the rig they are driving is as safe as possible?