WASHINGTON, D.C. — Canadian drivers have bested their neighbours to the south once again with a superior out-of-service rate during “Brake Safety Week,” held across North America Sept. 12-18.

Brake Safety Week is a component of the Operation Air Brake campaign, an ongoing effort of an international truck and bus brake safety program dedicated to improving commercial vehicle brake safety throughout North America.

According to officials from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, historically, out-of-service (OOS) rates have been lower in Canada than in the US during Brake Safety Week. In 2010, the trend stayed constant with 13.7% vehicles in the US placed OOS for brake adjustments compared to 10.3% in Canada. Canada also reported a significant drop in the OOS rates for brakes in 2010 (4.4%) versus 2009 (6.5%).

“The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is to be commended for their outstanding efforts toward improving safety on our roads and highways,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro.  “I thank CVSA for their leadership during Brake Safety Week and for their partnership throughout the year in protecting lives.”

The number of vehicles inspected during Operation Air Brake’s “Brake Safety Week” reached a historic high this year while also showing a significant drop in the number of out-of-service defects for brake components and overall out-of-service (OOS) defects, according to results from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA).

“While enforcement is a major focus of Operation Air Brake, education also is critically important,” said Stephen A. Keppler, CVSA’s executive director. “CVSA recently completed a survey of 7,500 drivers during Brake Safety Week that showed us education remains a big issue. We use the information gathered from Operation Air Brake to really try to understand problem areas and assist industry in increasing their compliance to improve highway safety for them and the motoring public.”

Overall results show:          

-30,472 vehicles were inspected, which is the highest number of vehicles inspected since program started in 1998. There were 26,630 inspections in 2009.

-2,717 vehicles were placed OOS for brake adjustments (8.9% in 2010, 9.0% in 2009).

-2,435 vehicles were placed OOS for brake components (8.0% in 2010, 9.2% in 2009).

-4,117 vehicles were placed OOS for brakes (13.5% in 2010, 15.1% in 2009).