REGINA, Sask. — The largest Operation Air Brake blitz ever took place Sept. 4, with more than 14,665 roadside inspections taking place. This year’s out of service rate was 16.5 per cent.

While that number is in check with other recent years, it was considerably lower than the 18 per cent out of service rate recorded during the unannounced spring blitz. This lends credence to the theory that some carriers park their trucks during the much-publicized fall Operation Air Brake.

In total, 11 per cent of trucks inspected during this fall’s North America-wide blitz were placed out of service due to brakes being out of adjustment. Seven and a half per cent were placed out of service because of brake components with the total out of service rate coming in at 16.5 per cent. That number remains essentially unchanged from last year’s fall blitz.

Manual slack adjusters only accounted for 26.2 per cent of the 119,978 brakes inspected, and 8.7 per cent of them were not in compliance. On the other hand only 3.7 per cent of automatic slack adjusters were placed out of service.

"Operation Air Brake is a continuing reminder for all of us industry and enforcement to remain vigilant in our responsibilities for ensuring proper brake inspection and maintenance," said Peter Hurst, CVSA president. "Rear-end crashes continue to be pervasive occurrences when trucks and buses are involved in crashes. Two critical things drivers can do to help mitigate these situations are to 1) make sure they have the proper headway between the vehicle or object in front of them, and 2) make sure they have full braking capability."