Coinciding with Brake Safety Awareness Month, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has slated Brake Safety Week for Aug. 22-28, meaning drivers and carriers have just a few more days to tighten up on brake safety.

Over the seven-day period, inspectors will conduct North American Standard Inspections of commercial motor vehicles with a focus on brake systems and components, removing any inspected vehicle found to have brake-related out-of-service violations. CVSA will then compile data collected on brake hoses and tubing, which are the areas of focus for this year’s inspection, and in turn, publish a report of its findings later this year.

According to CVSA, recent research shows that announcing enforcement campaigns ahead of time does a better job improving overall compliance than surprise enforcement campaigns and for longer periods after the events.

CVSA’s brake safety initiative stems from last year’s International Roadcheck findings, in which brake system and brake adjustment violations rendered more vehicles out-of-service (OOS) than any other vehicle-related OOS violation, making up 38.6% of total OOS violations in North America — that’s 4,730 of the 12,254 OOS violations recorded in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. combined.

What’s more, CVSA cited a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration report listing “brake system” failure as cause for 0.9% of large trucks in fatal crashes by vehicle-related factors in 2018. Despite its low percentage, brake error was ranked the third most common vehicle-related factor resulting in a fatal accident behind “tires” at 1.4% and “other working vehicle” at 1.8%. Overall, 5.8% of fatal large truck crashes are the result of at least one vehicle-related factor, as opposed to the other 94.2% of accidents in which vehicle-related factors aren’t recorded.

Brian Runnels, Reliance Partners’ vice president of safety, anticipates violations to be a greater amount than in 2020. He reasons that COVID-19 took the punch out of last year’s Roadcheck enforcement as to why statistics may rise. However, Runnels also suggested that violations overall, compared to 2019, could possibly decrease, as carriers are switching to disc-style brakes, which are more reliable than drum-style brakes.

“I think it’s easy to say that violations will be up this year,” Runnels said. “Compared to 2020, I think they’ll be up, but I overall think they may be down a bit just because of the different style of equipment that’s being put on the road.”

Runnels urges drivers to take part in routine maintenance and to be especially diligent during pre- and post-trip inspections, keeping an eye out for worn or damaged brake drums, pads and shoes, slack adjusters, S-cams, hoses, as well as checking the functionality of the brake and taillights.

While drivers don’t exactly have the ability to adjust their self-adjusting brakes, Runnels suggests testing the air brakes, calling it a “forgotten art” as drivers aren’t asked to perform them as much.

Drivers can simply put something heavy like a brick on the brake pedal and watch the air gauge and listen for any escaping air with the brakes applied. Runnels also suggested checking for any air leakage around the tractor system by chocking the wheels, releasing the trailer brake, but keeping the tractor brakes engaged, and vice versa.

As for checking the adjustments of any kind, Runnels says it’s best a two-person job. After one person parks the truck on level ground, the other is to crawl under the power unit to mark where the push rods meet the brake canisters. It’s only when the brakes are applied that the push rods can be measured to see how far out they extend from the brake chamber.

“Those push rods will come out at varying distances depending on if it’s a short or long throw. That’s why you see so many adjustment violations,” Runnels said. But keep in mind that this can be a dangerous task and ultimately futile if you don’t know what to look for underneath the cab.

“They can get adjusted back down, but if there’s a bad break component such as a slack adjuster, it’ll go right back out of adjustment,” Runnels said. “And there’s really no way of knowing that unless you have that same trailer all the time. … That was the whole point of self-adjusting brakes — to eliminate that process.”

Runnels said that mechanics can’t fix what they don’t know is broken, adding that drivers should also ask when the last time the brakes were adjusted. “A lot of it relies on the driver to let the shops know they’ve got a problem, alerting them when their brakes don’t feel like they’re stopping like they should.”

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America’s fastest-growing commercial insurance agency for the transportation and logistics space is also one of the most innovative and disruptive companies across the freight industry. 

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. (October 24, 2019) – FreightWaves, the industry-leading provider of 24/7 news, data and analytics for the global freight and logistics markets, announced Reliance Partners as one of the winners of the 2020 FreightTech 100 Awards.

The FreightTech 100 highlights the most innovative and disruptive companies across the freight industry, featuring both cutting-edge upstarts and top-notch traditional powers. This year’s list includes 70 returning companies from last year’s awards and 30 first-timers.

The 2020 FreightTech 100 list is the result of over 1,200 nominations for 255 unique companies. The company that received the most nominations this year was nominated almost 225 times.

“This is not a ‘pay to play’ competition; the companies that make it into the FreightTech 100 do so because they are changing the freight industry in new and dynamic ways,” FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller said. “We want to recognize the most innovative and disruptive companies out there.” 

Companies named in the FreightTech 100 will be judged by an external panel of industry experts, with voting conducted and overseen by accounting firm Katz, Sapper & Miller (KSM). Each member of the panel ranks the top 25 companies on a 1 to 25 point basis. The companies generating the most points comprise the FreightTech 25.

“Data has always been used to calculate driving and safety metrics,” Reliance Partners President Chad Eichelberger said. “But leveraging telematics and integrating with supply chain networks, directly, allows Reliance to prioritize the customer experience, achieve better rates, and secure on-demand cargo insurance products for shippers, carriers, and logistics companies, alike. We’re honored to have been selected for the efforts we’ve placed into upgrading the commercial insurance industry.”

The winners of the Freight Tech 25 will be announced at FreightWaves LIVE Chicago.

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The FreightTech Innovation Challenge is a 24-hour competition for college students from across the country to team up and tackle some of the greatest challenges in the transportation and logistics industries. This event will honor the culture of innovation, vulnerability, and disruption that consistently fuels the exponential growth in freight. 141 students applied representing 24 schools, 51 students from 15 schools were selected to participate in this challenge. Students from across the U.S. will represent top supply and chain business programs such as Michigan State University, Purdue University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Iowa State University, University of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Emory University, and University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.

Reliance Partners is excited to be a part of this event. “The FreightTech Innovation Challenge will be a powerhouse event of innovative thought in our industry that hosts the brightest young minds from across the nation’s most prestigious schools to drive the future of freight,” said Sahej Singh, Business Intelligence & Strategy Manager at Reliance Partners, who is one of the sponsors for the event. Winners will be rewarded with the grand prize of $5,000 second place earning $3,000, and $1,000 for third place.

Reliance Partners is honored to be a part of this event and hopes to help change the norms of diversity and innovation within the industry. Good luck to all participants!

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