SAFETY DAWG Chris Harris
Three Common Daily Vehicle Inspection (DVI) Mistakes One thing that I really enjoy doing is performing road evaluations with experienced professional truck drivers. We both get to go on the road together and perform normal driving routines such as city driving, and the driver gets to show me their driving experience on the highway. Of course, before we get onto the road or highway, a Daily Vehicle Inspection (DVI) is required to be performed by the driver. What are the most common items missed, ignored, or not checked correctly, while performing the DVI? First are lights. All drivers regularly turn on their lighting system and make sure that the lights are working. The common errors or omissions here are three. One, they forget to turn on all the lights. Often the fog lights are not checked. If a light is installed on the unit, it must work. Therefore, you need to turn on all the lights. The second common mistake is not checking the high beams of 14 • OVER THE ROAD
the headlights. And the third mistake is thinking that the 4-way flashers are also showing you that the brake lights are functioning correctly. The brake lights need to be checked by applying pressure to the brake pedal. Staying with lights raises my second concern. The ABS lights - when I ask the driver how they check the ABS system, they look at me in a confused state. They often are not familiar with the dashboard indicator that comes on when the ignition is turned on and then goes off after a few seconds. Drivers are not watching for this. They are also not observing the trailer ABS light. When you plug in the trailer electrical cord, the trailer ABS light, when functioning correctly, will again turn on and then turn off after a few seconds. It stands to reason that if the ABS lights don’t come on and then turn off after a set time, the ABS system is not working correctly. Or if the ABS light remains lit, it is not functioning correctly.
MAY 2022
