Truck and bus safety enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Canada will conduct 16 hours of brake safety roadside inspections on Sept. 5 as part of Operation Air Brake, a North American Brake Safety Campaign. The campaign is sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, North America's leading commercial safety organization, and the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators.

These inspections, which began in 1998, are conducted several days each year. While brake-related defects continue to be the most frequent commercial vehicle equipment violation, CVSA reports that safety compliance continue to show improvements. For example, 10,344 vehicles were inspected in the May 2000 Operation Air Brake, with 18.5 percent placed out of service for brake violations. In May 2001, 12,938 vehicles were inspected, with 16 percent placed out of service for brake violations.

Although there's no overwhelming evidence of correlation between brake defects and their contribution to crashes, CVSA says there is sufficient data to show that reducing brake defect occurrences will improve vehicles' stopping capability. This, says the organization, can have a positive effect on the crash rate for commercial vehicles.

CVSA says Operation Air Brake promotes these objectives:
1) Increase drivers' and carriers' knowledge of brake compliance and vehicle brake performance.
2) Make sure all applicable brake system inspection requirements are followed.
3) Conduct inspections similar to Operation Air Brake across all North Americanjurisdictions with greater regularity.