8.1 Trip Inspection Law, Major and Minor Defects, and Roadside Enforcement

Trip Inspection Law, Major and Minor Defects, and Roadside Enforcement

Quick Answer: Alberta's trip inspection rules are in sections 9 to 16 of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation (AR 121/2009). A trip inspection and its report are valid for 24 hours. Defects are classed as minor or major. Minor defects must be recorded and reported no later than the next required daily trip inspection, and the vehicle may keep running. With a major defect, the vehicle may not be driven until it is repaired. For air brakes, the National Safety Code (NSC) schedule lists an audible air leak and a slow air pressure build-up rate as minor defects. It lists the pushrod stroke beyond the limit, excessive air loss, an inoperative tractor protection system, a failed or activated low-air warning, and an inoperative service, parking, or emergency brake as major defects.

Why the law matters for the air brake test

The Alberta course ties the air brake pre-trip to the legal trip inspection. The air brake check is designed to be part of your normal vehicle trip inspection, not a separate event. There is no mandatory order for a vehicle trip inspection, but every driver of an air-brake vehicle must include the air brake pre-trip in it. Section 8.3 and Section 8.4 cover the air brake steps.

Who must do trip inspections

A "commercial vehicle" is one operated on a highway by or for a person to provide transportation. It does not include a private passenger vehicle.

The inspection cycle

• Before the trip: a full trip inspection. Drivers may not drive a truck or bus, or tow a trailer, unless the vehicle has been inspected within the previous 24 hours. Section 10 of the regulation covers this 24-hour validity.
• During the trip: drivers must monitor the vehicle for defects while en route. In-service checks watch the systems you can monitor while moving, such as gauges, warning lights, and how the brakes feel. En-route inspections, ideally every few hours, confirm the vehicle can stay in service.
• After the trip: inspecting at the end of a shift helps the next shift succeed.

Someone other than the driver, such as maintenance or yard staff, may do the inspection and sign the report. That person is then legally responsible for it. A driver may rely on another person's report made within 24 hours, unless the driver has reason to believe it does not meet requirements or knows, or ought to know, of a defect.

What the trip inspection report must include

Section 12 of the regulation deals with trip inspection reports. The Commercial Driver's Guide lists what they must contain:

1. the licence plate number, commercial vehicle identification number, or unit number;
2. the odometer or hubometer reading at the time of inspection;
3. the carrier's name;
4. the municipality or highway location where the inspection was done;
5. the inspector's name, with a signed statement that the vehicle was inspected in accordance with the requirements;
6. either a statement that no defect was found or a description of each defect;
7. if a modified schedule was used, what was deleted and what was added;
8. the time and date of the report; and
9. the name and signature of the driver or other person making the report.

On an officer's demand, the driver must produce both the inspection schedule and the report. Trucks, tractors, and trailers are inspected with Schedule 1, and buses with Schedule 2. The carrier must supply the schedule, and the schedule and report may be combined on one document.

Minor versus major defects

Air brake defects in NSC Schedule 1 (trucks, tractors, and trailers)

Notice two things. A slow build-up is only a minor defect, while an excessive leak rate is a major one. And the low-air warning being activated counts as a major defect as well as the warning failing: if your warning is on, you have a problem that stops the trip.

Roadside enforcement and CVSA

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is an organization that all enforcement agencies belong to. Its goal is to standardize commercial vehicle inspections so that defects are treated the same way throughout North America. Vehicle inspectors across Alberta carry out these inspections, and vehicles that do not meet the requirements can be placed out of service until repaired. Violations can also bring fines and points on the carrier's Carrier Profile or the driver's Commercial Driver Abstract.

Points from the course that link to roadside enforcement:

• Applied pushrod stroke is measured with a full service application (Section 6.2).
• The tractor protection system is tested in a Level 1 inspection. Both lines are removed, the red button must trip, and no air may leak from the service line while the brake is applied. A failure puts the vehicle out of service.
• A vehicle whose park control valve does not default to park when air is depleted must be placed out of service.
• Blocking off air lines to a failed component, for example by kinking or wiring a line shut, clamping it with pliers, or wedging a coin into a swivel fitting, reduces braking capacity and is never acceptable. The vehicle must be out of service until it is properly repaired.

Signs on the road

• White signs are regulatory: they state requirements.
• Brake check pullouts have signs telling drivers what to inspect, and many also describe the grade ahead.