WASHINGTON, D.C. — Trucks and truck drivers are as safe as ever, but brake problems are still the biggest single reason trucks get yanked out of service.

If, that is, the results of this year’s CVSA Roadcheck are anything to go by.

Roadcheck 2010, (a.k.a., the Blitz) which saw more than 65,000 trucks get hauled over for inspection in a 72-hour period, took place between June 8 and 10 all across North America. (That’s 15 trucks or buses every minute.)

The results were released this week and they showed maladjusted brakes accounted for more than half of the out-of-service orders issued during the Roadcheck.

Otherwise, the overall 2010 results hover very close to the impressive (OOS) rates set during 2009.

While inspection totals are down from the previous year’s records, more inspectors participated at more locations in this year’s event.

This seems to indicate during 2010 that there was a shift to an increasing focus on mobile roadside inspections.

More than 9,856 CVSA-certified inspectors at 2,482 locations across North America performed 65,327 truck and bus inspections.

The 2010 data show the overall vehicle compliance rate at 80 percent (80.4 percent in 2009), with an overall driver compliance rate of 95.6 percent (unchanged from last year).

That’s pretty much on par with the Canadian 2010 compliance rate. (For a breakdown on Canadian Roadcheck stats click here).

For NAS Level I inspections in the U.S., the compliance rates were 76.7 percent for vehicles (77.8 percent in 2009) and 96.3 percent for drivers (96.1 percent in 2009). That means less than four percent of drivers were unfit to keep driving.

In addition, there were 189 more safety belt violations in 2010 than there were last year (1,159 in 2010 vs. 970 in ’09), a 19.5-percent increase.

Hazardous materials inspections resulted in a vehicle compliance rate of 83.7 percent (83.0 percent in 2009) and driver compliance rate of 97.5 percent (97.0 percent).

There were 26,605 CVSA decals issued to vehicles that passed the inspection, which was down from the number issued in 2009 (29,972).

"The number of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) inspections is an indicator that, even in these continued tough economic times, state, provincial, local and federal agencies are committed to enforcing truck and bus safety standards," said Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliances (CVSA) Interim Executive Director Stephen A. Keppler.