Top 15 toughest states for brake violations
The above chart is based on 2013 federal data mined by Overdrive and RigDig Business Intelligence. Percentages represent brake violations’ share of all state-issued violations. For full inspection/violation statistics by state, visit OverdriveOnline.com/csa.
Enforcers in an annual week-long brake inspection spree held in September placed 2,162 trucks — 16.2 percent of the vehicles inspected — out of service, according to numbers released Jan. 5 by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.
CVSA, in a joint effort with FMCSA and state and local enforcement agencies, hold the Brake Safety Week inspection blitz each September.
The percentage of vehicles placed out of service in 2014 jumped a few points from 2013’s record-low of 13.5 percent, but the percentage comes from a smaller sample size: Inspectors only checked about 65 percent of the number of trucks and buses inspected in 2012 and 2013, years in which more than 20,000 vehicles were inspected.
In 2014’s Brake Safety Week, only 13,305 trucks and buses were inspected.
The overall out-of-service rate of 16.2 percent was the highest in the previous four years, topping 2011’s 14.2 percent, 2012’s 15.3 percent and 2013’s 13.5 percent.
Of the trucks inspected, 10.4 percent (1,388) were placed out of service for brake adjustment issues, also a high from recent years.
Brake component problems put 9.3 percent out of service, or 1,244 — also a four-year high.
