A newcomer to Roadcheck driver violations top 5: speaking English
Looking over the statistics released by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Association (CVSA) on May’s International Roadcheck Week, the data looks pretty much like that of Roadcheck Week 2025. With one big exception: English language proficiency (ELP). That catego…
Looking over the statistics released by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Association (CVSA) on May’s International Roadcheck Week, the data looks pretty much like that of Roadcheck Week 2025. With one big exception: English language proficiency (ELP). That catego…
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Looking over the statistics released by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Association (CVSA) on May’s International Roadcheck Week , the data looks pretty much like that of Roadcheck Week 2025.
With one big exception: English language proficiency (ELP).
That category of driver violation last year was not in the top 5 of reasons why a driver was given an Out of Service (OOS) order (as opposed to an OOS order for a vehicle violation).
In 2025, the top five violations for combined U.S. and Canada inspections for driver-related OOS orders accounted for 86.8% of the total. English proficiency was not in the top five. Where it fit in the remaining 13.2% was not disclosed.
The smallest percentage of the top five that were listed last year was driving with a suspended license, which accounted for 5.1% of all driver-related OOS orders. That means whatever percentage English language proficiency accounted for all OOS was cited in 2025, it was less than that.
In the results of 2026 International Roadcheck, released Tuesday by CVSA, there were 361 drivers taken OOS for failing to be able to demonstrate English proficiency. That accounted for 9.1% of all driver-related OOS orders.
That wasn’t the only change in the driver-related violations resulting in an OOS order between 2025 and 2026.
In 2025, the biggest category was Hours of Service violations, 1,076, accounting for 32.4% of all violations. “No medical card” was 493 violations, or 14.9% of all OOS orders.
This year, “no medical card” shot up to 1,072 violations, or 27% of all driver-related OOS infractions, while HOS violations dropped to 929, or 23.4% of all OOS orders.
The other top OOS violations for drivers this year were no CDL, 620 violations for 15.6% of the total compared to 24.4% last year with 810 violations; false logs, 266 violations this year for 6.7% of the total compared to 332 violations and 10% of the total last year; and suspended license, which last year was 170 violations of 5.1% of the total but this year was pushed out of the top five by the inclusion of English language proficiency.
Changes since last year
Between last year and this year, English language proficiency–which already was on the books–received heightened attention because of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April 2025 affirming the regulation that already was on the books, and a federal effort to further codify that regulation.
Other data in the report for International Roadcheck showed differences with 2025 but nothing on the scale of the ELP surge in the rankings.
CVSA inspection data for vehicle violations is combined for the U.S., Canada and Mexico. For driver violations, it is just U.S. and Canada combined.
Total “decals” handed out by inspectors, which show other officials who might pull over a vehicle that the a truck has been given a clean bill of health, rose to 11,880 power units from 11,441 last year, with total decals (including trailers and buses) rising to 17,680 from 16,521.
While cargo securement was an announced priority this year, that push barely changed the numbers. There were 1,737 OOS violations for that category last year, and 1,724 this year.
Brakes at the top
The leading category of vehicle violations in 2026 leading to an OOS order was brake systems, 3,379 this year for 24.3% of the total and 3,304 last year for 24.4% of the total.
The top five categories for OOS orders related to a vehicle were unchanged in order between the two years: brake systems, tires, 20% defective brakes, cargo securement and lights. They were 84.4% of all vehicle-related OOS orders last year, and 86.7% this year.
Roadcheck’s focus for driver violations didn’t make the top 5: “ electronic logging device (ELD) tampering, falsification or manipulation,” as CVSA described it. There were 146 OOS orders issued for that violation, 3.7% of the total and seventh biggest category.
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