Colorado Trucks Found with High Rate of Bad Brakes During Surprise Inspections

A period of unannounced roadside inspections of commercial vehicles conducted last Spring revealed a high number of semi-trucks in Colorado with brake system violations. Brakes which are out of adjustment or have worn pads, linings, drums or rotors are by far the major reason 18-wheelers are placed out of service during roadside inspections. A brake failure at a critical moment on the highway can result in a catastrophic truck crash causing serious personal injury or wrongful death to the truck accident victims.

The surprise inspections were conducted with the help of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) as part of Operation Airbrake, an ongoing brake safety program spearheaded by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). Nationally, 7,701 tractor-trailers were inspected, with 10.1% found to have brake adjustment issues and another 8.7% found with out-of-service (OOS) violations for brake components. In Colorado, however, the inspections found 10.8% of trucks with brake adjustment problems and 13.3% with brake component issues, placing Colorado in the top ten of jurisdictions with the highest violations of the 24 jurisdictions inspected.

In addition, another 6.7% of the big rigs were placed out-of-service for other issues uncovered during the inspections, such as driver's license and registration problems.

Another aspect of Operation Airbrake is Brake Safety Week, which includes a series of pre-announced inspections. This year Brake Safety Week was held from September 7-13 and was expected to cover 30,000 commercial vehicles. Hopefully, the surprise inspections last May served as a wake-up call to the trucking industry to get their fleets in compliance with safety codes, so that the results of Brake Safety Week inspections will show an overall improvement in Colorado and across North American trucking.