Roadside Vehicle Inspectors Vie for Top Honors: NAIC Recognizes Best, Underscores Importance of Commercial Vehicle Safety Issues

WASHINGTON, July 25 -- Roadside inspectors from across the continent will convene in New Orleans and compete to become the best commercial vehicle inspector during this year's annual North American Inspectors Championship (NAIC) August 14-20, 2006. The event, sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), is held annually in conjunction with the American Trucking Association's National Truck Driving Championship.

"Roadside inspectors are highly-trained professionals who save lives everyday by keeping unsafe commercial vehicles and drivers off the road," said David H. Hugel, FMCSA's Acting Administrator. "We applaud the participants of the annual NAIC competition and we salute all of their colleagues across North America. The work of a commercial vehicle inspector is not easy but it is one of the most vital in public safety."

"Although participating inspectors compete for honors in several categories, each inspector leaves NAIC as a winner," said Stephen F. Campbell, CVSA's Executive Director. "The event gives each inspector an opportunity to receive training on the latest safety information, technology, standards and inspection procedures while sharing ideas, techniques and experiences with other inspectors."

NAIC's purpose is to recognize the inspector for demonstrating inspector excellence. NAIC's goals are to provide contestants with education on the latest commercial vehicle safety issues, promote uniformity of inspections throughout North America, challenge contestants utilizing real world scenarios, provide CVSA a snapshot of the current inspection environment, strengthen the industry and enforcement relationships and promote camaraderie between inspectors, jurisdictions and countries.

  NAIC contestants are evaluated in the following seven categories:
   1. North American Standard Level I Inspection;
   2. North American Standard Level I Inspection Procedures;
   3. North American Standard HAZMAT/Transportation of Dangerous Goods
      Inspection;
   4. North American Standard Cargo Tank/Other Bulk Packagings Inspection;
   5. North American Standard Level V Passenger Vehicle Inspection;
   6. North American Standard Personal Interview; and,
   7. North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria Exam.

All of the inspection categories are timed events and the compilation of scores for these categories result in a Grand Champion. In addition to a Grand Champion, awards are given for first, second and third place for selected inspection events.

CVSA is an international not-for-profit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier safety officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Our mission is to promote commercial motor vehicle safety and security by providing leadership to enforcement, industry and policy makers. In addition, CVSA has several hundred associate members who are committed to helping the Alliance achieve its goals; uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections, and enforcement activities throughout North America by individuals dedicated to highway safety and security. For more on CVSA visit www.cvsa.org.