Inspections were down in 2020 compared to prior years on the order of 24%, given limitations on both trucking and enforcement operations that resulted with the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in its early months.Source for data: FMCSA's MCMIS database | Analysis by RigDig and Overdrive
Just two states posted increases in the overall number of truck inspections in 2020, according to federal data analyzed by Overdrive and sister data company RigDig. Both were relatively low-inspection-intensity states: Alabama (No. 22) and Rhode Island (No. 34), with 5% gains.
Declines ranged from as little as 1% in Minnesota (No. 31) to more than 36% in relatively high-inspection-intensity states like Maryland and Indiana. That was enough to bump Indiana from the top-ranking departments for inspection intensity, shown in the map above. It dropped 3 inspections per lane-mile of National Highway System roadway in its borders.
Last year's accounting, based on 2019 data, showed Indiana ranking No. 7 on the list with 7 inspections per lane-mile.
This year, Indiana fell all the way to No. 14. California and Maryland, even with pronounced declines, held onto their top spots in the annual rankings, which show the relative distribution of inspection activity. Higher-ranked states, generally speaking, show a greater likelihood of inspecting a truck in normal times. That's no less true in Spring and Summer when inspection-blitz season begins to heat up with the annual Roadcheck event, typically the first.
States approach Roadcheck in various ways, perhaps most commonly with an all-hands-on-deck approach at fixed weigh stations. In Alabama, Captain Brent McElwaine emphasized the unique nature of the enforcement effort there with just a single fixed site on I-20 in Heflin, Alabama. "Virtual weigh stations," since 2013-'14, are in an expansion phase in Alabama, with two sites in place now equipped with weigh-in-motion and/or other technologies (such as tire-anomaly sensors) to better prioritize inspections of trucks and carriers troopers believe probably need it, for instance. Resulting inspections occur at roadside.
