[TITLE: TIPS FOR AVOIDING TIRE VIOLATIONS | INTERNATIONAL ROAD CHECK 2O16]
Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about tires and the
annual safety blitz on the part of the CVSA—the Commercial Vehicle Safety
Association [Alliance] Mexico, the United States, and Canada have an annual safety blitz this
year. It's happening between the 7th and 9th of June. It's a three day -seventy
two-hour blitz. This year, it's focusing on tires. A few days ago I did a video on
tires that got a great deal of attention, so I went on the CVSA's Facebook page and
found the hand that there providing to the public and I thought I could go
through that handout with you and provide a bit more information than
what's on the handout just to give you some clarification of how to check your
tires because that's the focus of CVSA's annual safety blitz this year. And
we'll just give you a bit more information than what's on the handout. Just to make sure
that if you do get pulled into the blitz, or you're out driving on that day, you won't
get a fine. We'll right back that information.
[OPENING CREDITS & MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers, welcome back. Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about the handout
for the CVSA—the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance—annual blitz this year
happening between the 7th and 9th of June 2016. The first point: know the
regulations. You need three millimeters of tread or one-eighth of an inch on
front steer tires. You also need one sixteenth of an inch on rear tires or
1.6 millimeters. That is the requirements for tread depth on the tires. Now
I'll get into it a little bit later, because down in points here,
farther you, have to have the tread depth also matching across the axle and
between the sets of duals on the back of your tractor or bus. Next point, keep your
vehicle suspension in alignment. As you can see here on the handout, keep your
vehicle suspension in alignment is not really the part of the driver, that is a
maintenance policy on the part of the company, unless you're an owner operator
and have your own truck. Wehicle or vehicle wheel alignment is the policy of
the maintenance shop and they're going to do that. Your job is to notice
irregular wear and point out and fill out the appropriate maintenance
documents. Next point: follow industry best practices for tire management. This is
essentially maintaining the inflation of the tires. You might want to get a tire
gauge and just check the tires on your vehicle. Most big trucks need to be
greased every couple of weeks. During the greasing it takes about 10 minutes to go
around and check the tire pressure on all the tires.
The maintenance personnel, or whoever does that to your truck or you do it
yourself - it
takes about 10 minutes. Some of the tires may need some air pressure or whatnot. They
do say in the handout, that most these tires—just by sitting or being used—will
lose about three pounds every month just from sitting. Next subheading - understand
tire specifications. Again this is not really the responsibility of the driver.
This is the responsibility of the tire shop, the maintenance shop, or the people who
purchase the tires for your trucks and units. 22.5s & 24s are the most common on road
tractors. There may be some other different types of tires depending on
what the use of the truck is - gravel trucks, cement trucks, those types of
things will have different kinds of tires. What you need to know, as the
driver, is that you are in compliance with the axle weights of that vehicle. In
the United States it's 12,000 pounds on the steer axles, 34,000 on tandem-tandem.
Most of the States in the United States run tandem-tandem and that's all they're allowed.
Michigan and a couple other states have other weight allowances and if you're
running multi axle trailers in Michigan and other States you're going to know
what the weights are or ask your dispatcher, or ask safety to look that up for you
so you know what the weight rating is. In Canada, steer axles are 5,500 kilograms,
tandem axles are 17,000 kilograms, and triple axles are 23,000 kilograms in
every province except British Columbia, which allows you 24,000 kilograms. You
need to know that you're in the weight specifications. If you have any questions or any
doubts about the tire specifications and they're going to hold up that amount of
weight then you need to question the safety department, the maintenance shop, & those
types of people. Those questions need to go to other people in the trucking
company.
Air pressure: there isn't much that it says on here about air pressure other
than running tires on low air pressure is gonna increase the heat, it's
decreased the wear and tear & the life of the tire. So air pressure - know that
they need to be above a hundred pounds per square inch - most of the time there
between 100 and 110 pounds per square inch. The next heading on the handout is
tread size and I did not understand this! It says: "for every size that a tread
width is undersized from the recommended width, mileage is reduced by 10%. I did
leave a comment on the CVSA's Facebook page and I'll put a link down in the
comment there. They didn't get back to me and I don't think that they probably
will!?! I just get a suspicion that they're not gonna get back to me on that point.
I didn't understand it and because it's just a statistic, I don't think it's
relevant to anything that drivers would need to know in terms of the annual
safety blitz. The last point is tread depths. Tread depth must match across the
axle, side to side and the duels on the back of the truck within 4/32 seconds of
an inch as it says on the handout. one-eighth of an inch - nobody reduced
down 4/32 seconds of an inch. One-eighth of an inch or three
millimeters for those of you in Canada and using the metric system. So across
the axle, tire-to-tire must match within 1/8 of an inch on tread depth and across the
four duals on the tandem tandem or triple axels if you're in Canada. Last
subheading: wheel position/matching duels -twin-screw tractors: What they're looking
here for is tire size. The tire size on tandem axles in duels must match within
a quarter of an inch on the diameter. So the diameter of the tire and the rim -
they're measuring from the center of the hub to the top of the tire and this has to
match within a quarter of an inch.
Or they're going to measure the circumference of the tire and it has to
be three quarters of an inch - It has to match within three-quarters of an inch. They
probably take the tire size or measure the diameter and from the diameter
there's a formula that they can figure out the circumference. So it a quarter inch
on diameter, three-quarters of an inch in circumference and that is something very
specific that really drivers don't need to worry about. You can look at a tire
and know whether it's going to match or not. They have to be the same size.
Often times they have to be the same make as well in order for them to match. So those
of the subheadings on the handout for the CVSA. So that gives you some further
information on the CVSA handout provided for the annual safety blitz that's
happening between June 7 and 9, 2016. Question for my smart drivers: do you
have any experience with the annual safety blitz? Have you been pulled
in & inspected during that period of time? For new drivers and those that haven't been pulled
into weigh scale before, the paperwork that you need to take into authorities is
extensive. It's ownership for the truck, and the trailer, your license, your logbook,
pre-trip inspection form, bills of lading, MVI reports (Motor-Vehicle Inspection),
and pre-trip reports. For new drivers, it can be
somewhat overwhelming, so head over to my website and get your free weigh scale
checklist. This will give you all the paperwork that you need to take into
authorities. And if you take the paperwork in in one hit it makes you
look organized. If you look organized, it raises less suspicions on the part of
the authorities because if your paperwork is organized probably your
trucks organized as well. That's the thinking in their minds.
Remember so much of life is about cosmetics! So head over get your free
weigh scale checklist. I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test thanks very much for watching.
Remember if you like the video, subscribe, share, comment down in the comment box
there below - all that helps us. Remember, pick the best answer, not necessarily the
right answer.
Have a great day. Bye now!
[CLOSING CREDITS & MUSIC - BLOOPERS]
What do you need the paperwork for? You need it for something because the authorities
want to look at it. They want to check you out. They want to look at your truck, they
want to look at you. They want to see whether you're upstanding - whether you shaved
whether you're good looking... whether you are.... you know smelly. I
don't know, maybe. [LAUGHING] Just go over and get the dumb checklist. I don't know - it's early
it's like six o'clock in the morning and I really don't know what I'm doing. I'm
trying to get you to go to my website and sign up for my email and get the
checklist & help you out. I really am trying to help you out. OK, serious now, serious. We're
being serious. It's over, you can... you can go. Really, you can go now. Because it's done.
There is nothing more funny. No there isn't
bye, bye
bye