CVSA Gears Up for 20th Anniversary of Annual 'Roadcheck,' June 3
Thousands of law enforcement officers will be blanketing North America's roadways for 72 continuous hours beginning June 3 to hammer home the importance of comprehensive safety inspections of trucks and buses and of enforcing safety belt use. Roadcheck, sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, dispatches federal, state, provincial, and local inspectors to more than 1,000 locations across the continent to conduct comprehensive North American Standard Level I Inspections.
CVSA Executive Director Stephen F. Campbell said the annual program, launched in 1988, has come a long way but still has a long way to go to achieve its ultimate goal of zero deaths. "It is clear there have been dramatic safety improvements over the last 20 years and, in large part, this success has been the direct result of an increase in roadside inspections and enforcement through the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program," he said. Campbell noted that in 1988, $50 million in federal dollars was made available to states through MCSAP to conduct Roadcheck activities. In 2007, the amount was $197 million.
The 62,370 roadside inspections performed during the 2007 Roadcheck event saved 15 lives and prevented 271 injuries, CVSA said. Over the course of a year, that performance rate would equal 1,825 lives saved and 32,972 injuries prevented. Annually, there are more than 3.5 million roadside inspections conducted across North America. The event "gets to the core" of what CVSA stands for: uniformity and reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections and enforcement activities, Campbell said. "It is through programs such as this that we are able to demonstrate to the public that we are getting results."