Is your fleet ready for the annual Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Roadcheck?
This 72-hour enforcement initiative brings heightened inspection activity across North America, with inspectors conducting high-volume roadside inspections of commercial vehicles and drivers. During the 2025 Roadcheck alone, inspectors conducted 56,178 inspections, placing 10,148 vehicles and 3,342 drivers out of service.
The 2026 Roadcheck is scheduled for May 12–14, with this year’s driver focus on ELD tampering, falsification, and manipulation, and the vehicle focus on cargo securement.
Preparing for the Roadcheck goes further than just inspecting all your trucks and driver profiles beforehand. For true peace of mind, take it one level further: review how you’re managing your compliance altogether.
Here are four ways to prepare for the CVSA Roadcheck.
Perform an internal FMCSA-style audit
To be sure you’re absolutely ready for (or any inspection) you need to think like an auditor. That means reviewing your files the same way enforcement would, and being honest about gaps.
Focus on identifying:
- Missing, expired, or soon-to-expire documents
- Incomplete or missing maintenance records
- Inconsistent documentation across reports
- Missing or incomplete HOS (Hours of Service) records
You know auditors will be unforgiving of any errors, so when you make your internal audit, make sure you do the same.
Review your ELD and Hours of Service management process
Hours of Service remains the top driver out-of-service category, accounting for 32.4% of driver OOS violations in 2025.
With the 2026 Roadcheck placing special focus on ELD tampering, falsification, and manipulation, this is an area fleets cannot afford to overlook.
Ask yourself:
- Are drivers properly trained on ELD use and exemptions?
- Is there a consistent review process for logs?
- Are discrepancies flagged, investigated, and documented?
- Does your team clearly understand escalation procedures?
Inspectors will review records of duty status closely, both for errors and intentional manipulation. Make sure you’ve made your review beforehand.
Strengthen your maintenance processes
Vehicle violations remain a major source of out-of-service orders. In 2025:
- Brakes accounted for 41.1% of combined vehicle OOS violations
- Tires accounted for 21.4%
- Cargo securement ranked among the top violations, including 15.1% of OOS violations in Canada
Cargo securement is also a 2026 Roadcheck focus area, making it especially important this year.
To prepare:
- Ensure maintenance programs are documented and consistently followed
- Track all defects: from inspection to repair to verification
- Confirm drivers are completing proper trip inspections (NSC Standard 13)
- Review cargo securement practices, training, and equipment
Inspectors will assess key components including brakes, tires, lighting, suspension, and cargo securement—anything affecting vehicle safety. Make sure your fleet checks them all.
Ensure driver qualification and compliance responsibilities are clear
In 2025, nearly 40% of driver out-of-service violations were tied to licensing and medical qualification issues. That means fleets need to ensure:
- Driver licences are valid and appropriate for the vehicle class
- Medical certifications are current
- Driver files are complete and up to date
- Responsibilities for compliance are clearly defined across the team
In the U.S., inspectors also check a driver’s status in the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, making this another critical compliance area.
At the same time, everyone—from drivers to safety staff—needs to understand their role in compliance, how issues are reported, and where problems are escalated. A strong system will prevent small issues from turning into major violations.
What inspectors are really doing during the CVSA Roadcheck
Most inspections conducted during the CVSA Roadcheck are Level I inspections, a 37-step process that includes:
- Reviewing driver credentials (licence, HOS, medical, impairment indicators)
- Inspecting vehicle components (brakes, tires, lights, suspension, cargo securement, etc.)
If an out-of-service violation is found, the vehicle or driver is immediately restricted from operating until the issue is corrected.
Every roadside inspection also feeds into a carrier’s CSA Safety Measurement System profile, which can impact safety ratings, insurance costs, and shipper confidence.
Final thoughts
The CVSA Roadcheck may be just one annual event, but it provides a snapshot of your fleet’s overall compliance. Prepare ahead, and that snapshot will be a good one.
The most successful fleets are already operating with systems that hold up under inspection. If you feel your team isn’t there yet, the four steps we’ve outlined will help.
- Audit your compliance
- Tighten your HOS/ELD processes
- Strengthen maintenance and cargo securement
- Clarify roles and responsibilities
If you want to simplify compliance management, Kupar works alongside its parent company TruckRight to help fleets stay organized, audit-ready, and ahead of regulatory requirements (click here to learn how).
Pop-up safety checks like the CVSA Roadcheck don’t have to be an annual headache. These four ways to prepare will help you prevent problems well before auditors come knocking. Better still, you can leave compliance management to our team at Kupar, so you can get back to what you do best.
Contact us today and find out how we can become a seamless part of your fleet.