Speeding Up Roadside Inspections

Drivers can never really predict the exact day and time when he/she will be pulled over for a roadside inspection. Driving up to a scale house, a mobile roadside inspection, or a surprise on-site inspection, drivers can be stopped by Department of Transportation officials at any time.

One of the DOT’s top priorities is to keep fleet drivers and the general public safe on the road. Regardless of where drivers are, they always need to be prepared with proper documentation of their Hours of Service (HOS), vehicle maintenance, and safety compliance.

With new GPS Tracking platforms, the days of clip boards and stacks of paper logs are gone. Drivers can maintain an exact account of work hours, vehicle status, and safety—easily recording data without the clutter of paper.

Fleet carriers can help their drivers complete inspection processes more efficiently by investing in GPS fleet tracking software that provide tools, including electronic driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIR), electronic logbooks (E-Logs), and driver safety software—all of which can help maintain fleet business compliant.

In accordance with these tools, drivers can help speed up the inspection process by following two simple tasks:

Keep the cab clean

Inspectors have a busy schedule too. They don’t always have time to closely examine every vehicle, so they may look for obvious physical appearance issues to assess the degree of a vehicle’s inspection. For example, the appearance of the cab can mark as the beginning point for an inspector. A clean and orderly cab can indicate to the inspector that the driver cares and probably maintains the rest of the truck tidy and well-kept.

Be helpful and polite

It is the inspector’s choice who to detain, so making the inspector’s day run smoothly can speed up the driver’s change of getting back on the road faster. Any display of a negative attitude from the driver could trigger a thorough search for something to cite. DOT employees are human, too, after all. Besides just being polite and professional, a driver can help his or her case by having all necessary logs and reports prepared. Drivers can complete this by proactively filling out their paperless inspection forms at the end of the day’s shift, and before they begin their day.

While roadside inspections can be time-consuming and put a pause on your fleet’s productivity, it is best to keep them in perspective. After all, if no vehicles got inspected, trucks would be breaking down and causing frequent accidents.

With GPS fleet tracking tools, drivers can get back on the road faster, and fleet carriers can reduce fines, tickets, compliance breaches, and other violations on the road.