The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance will release the 2010 North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria April 1. The annually published guide provides law enforcement and the motor carrier industry with guidelines for promoting uniformity in compliance and enforcement throughout North America.

 The CVSA has maintained, updated and published the guide for more than 20 years. The Out-of-Service Criteria guidelines are used by certified state, provincial, territorial and federal law enforcement personnel in identifying Critical Vehicle Inspection Item violations following a roadside inspection. Officials are trained to identify hazards, and they can prohibit a motor carrier or operator from driving until the defective condition is corrected. The OOSC is a component of the North American Standard Inspection Program, and is developed through a collaborative process that includes government and industry experts.

 Roadside inspection results are used in part to identify motor carriers that present a high degree of risk to the motoring public. The data collected helps determine which transportation companies will be selected for review under FMCSA’s new Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA 2010) initiative.

 For more information on the North American Standard Inspection Program, which oversees the Out-of-Service standards, or on how to obtain the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, visit http://www.cvsa.org/. For more information on CSA 2010, visit http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov/.