Roadcheck 2021

This year's focus will be on hours-of-service compliance. Make sure your drivers are properly prepared for this year's roadside inspections with new driver training.

Truck inspections expected to rebound in 2021 following significant COVID-caused sag: As COVID-related restrictions ease around the country, law enforcement officials anticipate a truck inspection rebound in 2021 from last year’s sharp decline. 

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Motor Carrier Management Information System, roadside truck inspections dropped 23% from 3.5 million in 2019 to 2.7 million in 2020. Since then, COVID vaccinations have rolled out in growing numbers and states have continued to relax coronavirus rules which, according to FMCSA, may eventually lead to a return to higher pre-COVID inspection numbers. 

The FMCSA expects the number of inspections in 2021 to outpace 2020, although it is too early to tell due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 national health emergency

From ELD and HOS violation trends to self-driving trucks' job displacement, major takeaways from FMCSA's Analysis, Research & Technology forum:

Remote/offsite safety audits of motor carriers are here to stay. The surge in offsite/remote safety audits and compliance reviews over the past year has greatly increased and the FMCS says that trend is here to stay. The FMCSA stated that the agency so far has “felt good about how [offsite audits] worked and how the agency was able to transition” quickly to those remote audits. That was somewhat out of necessity when the pandemic hit, but it was also a stroke of good luck on the agency’s timing.

False log violations have trended up under ELDs — and ELD violations have trended up under COVID. False log violations have trended up since hard enforcement of the ELD mandate began in April 2018. It’s a lot harder to cheat your ELD and there has been a slow and steady increase in identifying false log records at roadside. Also, due to the COVID pandemic and a corresponding greater push by FMCSA and state enforcement partners to conduct offsite audits of motor carriers, the number of safety investigations revealing ELD violations has climbed steadily.