We're officially less than a week out from the annual Roadcheck inspection blitz, when state patrols around the nation step up their efforts in varying degrees, that's sure, but always with a special focus area the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance hopes to build awareness around.
Overdrive's own Senior Editor Matt Cole, along with our sister publication CCJ's Editor Jason Cannon, recently sat down with CVSA Roadside Inspections Specialist Jeremy Disbrow, who elaborated on those two focus areas: hours of service, and tires.
There's more to it than just the usual focus on hours in any driver inspection, Disbrow noted. "What they're looking for this time is false log books in particular," he said, calling false logs a "larger issue lately with ELDs, and that's been reported by law enforcement and industry as well, where they're seeing kind of an influx of tampering with ELDs."
Or tampering, that is, with the duty designations that are possible with those electronic logging devices (ELDs): misuse of the off-duty/driving status of "personal conveyance" chief among them, Disbrow noted, or the off-duty/not-driving status for "yard moves, the different exemptions that are available."
Not knowing what's kosher for PC use is among the most common reasons for false-log violations, which can be out-of-service violations. Find Overdrive's guide to what's allowable PC use in the video at this link, now part of the Safety & Compliance section of the revamped Partners in Business playbook for owner-operator careers. (The false logs violation in 2023 also got an update in terms of how it's treated in CVSA's out of service criteria. Details at this link.)
[Related: CVSA's out-of-service criteria: What's new for 2025]
Here's what CVSA inspections guru Disbrow had to say about the false-log targeting in Cole and Cannon's recent 10-44 episode:
With respect to this year's equipment area of focus -- tires, broadly speaking -- Disbrow also elaborated on just why tires in particular this year. There's something of an education-of-the-inspectors-themselves aspect of that this time around, he said, pointing to the growing use of "automatic tire inflation systems that we're starting to see."
They're not mandatory systems, of course, not new technology either, yet "they can actually help a carrier," he said. "If there's a tire leak that's discovered in the tread and that automatic tire inflation system is keeping up with it," the truck wouldn't be put out of service "because it's not an imminent hazard."
Many inspectors, though, aren't accustomed to such systems, Disbrow said, some even "intimdated, I think, by all the tubes and stuff coming out of the tire, and they don't know how to check the inflation pressure."
During Roadcheck, CVSA hopes more will take to heart additional training it's provided to states' inspectors on "how to disconnect" the systems, put a tire gauge on the tire to check pressure, then "rehook it. ... So it's again kind of raising awareness on that component."
Otherwise, odds of a weigh station pull-in are somewhat greater next week, though the jury's out on just how much. Recall "Mustang" Mike Crawford's two years' worth of inspection-less Roadcheck running in 2024 and 2023, the latter year with hardly even a scale open on his routes between Illinois and down to Florida and beyond.
In any case, below find further resources on inspection trends and tips, likewise truck maintenance and more, from recent history in Overdrive:
- Ways to avoid inspection, without bypassing the scales
- CVSA out-of-service criteria updates for 2025, 2024 and 2023
- Invest in inspections now to save money, hassle later
- Man v. machine at roadside: Mitigating rising 'false logs' risk
- Inspections, violations, safety scores: Following rules of the road, and how they follow you
- More ways owner-ops can avoid -- or ace -- inspections
- Roadcheck 2024 overview
- Where inspection is most likely, state by state, following Roadcheck 2023
- The toughest states for brakes, other maintenance-related violations
- The toughest 10 states for load securement violations
- Stay ahead of inspectors with these maintenance topics
- Five most common reasons wheel seals fail
- How brake-adjustment alone can put you out of service -- the '20% rule'
- Find more in Overdrive's long-running CSA's Data Trail series via this page
