May 12, 2025

COLUMBUS (May 13, 2025) – This week, thousands of motor carrier enforcement officers will take part in the three-day transportation safety event known as International Roadcheck. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) is participating in International Roadcheck, the largest targeted enforcement program for commercial motor vehicles in the world, scheduled for May 13-15 throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“Roadcheck is a 72-hour intensive inspection program where transportation inspectors across North America will be stopping trucks and focusing on specific areas of operations to ensure that motor carriers are operating safely on the highways,” Commissioner John Williams stated.

During International Roadcheck, inspectors will primarily conduct the North American Standard Level I Inspection, a 37-step procedure that includes an examination of driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical fitness. This year’s International Roadcheck places special emphasis on two focus areas: hours-of-service regulations and proper tire maintenance.

Hours-of-service regulations limit driving hours and mandate adequate rest breaks for commercial motor vehicle drivers. These regulations help to prevent crashes and incidents caused by fatigue. Drivers must accurately log their times and duty statuses. Drivers failing to properly retain or found to be falsifying logs will be subject to civil forfeiture and may be placed out-of-service.

Proper tire maintenance is crucial to safely operating a commercial motor vehicle. Tire failure while in transit is a hazard to all motorists. It is also far more expensive and time consuming for motor carriers to repair an in-transit tire failure versus proactively maintaining tire health and addressing tire issues before the vehicle is on the road.

PUCO inspectors enforce important safety regulations by conducting safety inspections of commercial motor vehicles on roadways across Ohio. Each safety inspection follows a thorough process to make sure that the driver and CMV meet necessary state and federal safety requirements. Vehicles and drivers that fail to meet these requirements may be declared out-of-service and cannot continue operating until they comply.

During last year’s Roadcheck, the PUCO along with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, conducted 1,088 inspections. There were 1,576 violations found, of which 322 were severe enough to place either the driver or vehicle out of service.

International Roadcheck is sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). Since its inception in 1988, roadside inspections conducted during International Roadcheck have numbered more than 1.5 million, with around 17 trucks and buses inspected, on average, every minute in Canada, the United States and Mexico during the 72-hour period. International Roadcheck also provides an opportunity to educate industry and the general public about the importance of safe commercial motor vehicle operations and the North American roadside inspection program.