Ensuring the Health of the CMV Enforcement Training and Support Grant/Cooperative Agreement

By Col. Russ Christoferson, Bureau Chief, Montana Department of Transportation; CVSA President

Developing and delivering high-quality roadside inspector training is essential to conducting commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety activities across all states and local jurisdictions. In Guardian Q1 2023, CVSA Executive Director Collin Mooney wrote an article about the new Commercial Motor Vehicle Enforcement Training and Support grant/cooperative agreement from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that was awarded to CVSA in January 2023. As the sole recipient of the $5 million grant, the Alliance assumed the responsibility for the roadside inspector training curriculum. CVSA is now more than one year into providing these services, and it has been a very successful transition in my eyes.

One of the tasks CVSA completed during this timeframe was updating all the training materials inherited from the FMCSA National Training Center. To accomplish this, CVSA staff utilized currently certified instructors as subject matter experts. The members are the owners of the course materials and CVSA staff works at the behest of the membership; so having staff work hand-in-hand with instructors is crucial to maintaining high-quality training materials.

To effectively roll out the new training material, a new event was created: the CVSA Instructor In-Service.

This new, in-person event was held in Boston, Massachusetts, this March to introduce the updated training and course materials to currently certified state instructors. It was held in conjunction with the CVSA/FMCSA Data Quality and Systems Training, which historically has not been on a set schedule. Moving forward, the plan is to co-locate these two training events and hold them annually, each spring. The Instructor In-Service training will bring together all the CVSA members who are instructors, allowing them to keep current on the course materials and network with other instructors from across North America.

I was fortunate enough to attend the inaugural CVSA Instructor In-Service along with the CVSA/FMCSA Data Quality and Systems Training. As CVSA president, I spoke at the general session and was able to attend the different breakout sessions.

When observing the presentation of new training material to the instructors, I saw firsthand all the hard work that came to fruition. In speaking with many of the officers I know from my time as an instructor, they said the event was a success, and I received very positive feedback.

CVSA cannot sit idle and still deliver highquality training to the enforcement community, so keeping the materials up to date will be an ongoing process. To assist with this, the CVSA Training Committee is working with the leadership of the Audits and Investigations, Driver-Traffic Enforcement, Hazardous Materials, Passenger Carrier and Vehicle committees to form ad-hoc committees consisting of instructors from the various courses. The ad-hoc committees will review all the course revision submissions from instructors with their requested changes.

To learn more about or to be a part of this process, consider joining the Training Committee. You can do that through the CVSA member portal at www.cvsa.org/ memberportal.

Every member of the Alliance has a vested interest in ensuring inspectors receive quality training. As we move into the future, the Alliance will continue to apply each year for the FMCSA CMV Enforcement Training and Support Grant. I am confident that CVSA will continue to make every effort possible and use every resource available to make certain the training courses and materials are preserved and enhanced by the Alliance and its membership, which is exactly what we have worked toward for many years.

I urge anyone who has the desire and ability to contribute to the continuing success of the inspector training curriculum to actively get involved with the various CVSA technical committees, which will in turn safeguard the program for years to come

To learn more about and view the full list of CVSA's committees, visit www.cvsa.org/ committees.