The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has cancelled this year’s North American Inspectors Championship (NAIC), which is concurrently held with the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) National Truck Driving Championships and National Step Van Driving Championships. Both events were expected to take place in August.
The group made the announcement after ATA’s cancellation of its driver competition. The next CVSA championship is scheduled for Aug. 15-19, 2022, in Indianapolis.
The NAIC brings together 52 inspectors, representing the United States, Canada, and Mexico, to compete in a week of contests and training sessions. The contestants are evaluated on six categories, from a North American Level 1 inspection to an Out-of-Service Criteria exam. The contestants are tested on real-world events including hazardous materials requirements and passenger carrier vehicle inspections.
Similar to ATA’s truck championships, the purpose is to promote safety. Inspectors that attend these competitions are asked to bring these lessons back to jurisdictions to improve inspections throughout North America.
“Most of my inspections are hazmat trucks. A lot of people aren’t comfortable with it, and I wasn’t comfortable with it until I started making myself do inspections on hazardous materials trucks,” said Officer Steven Payne, a contestant at the 2018 event.
“The more you do, the more confident you get doing it,” he said.
Each event is timed, with 45 minutes for the written exam and 55 minutes to conduct a Level 1 inspection. The inspector with the highest score is honored as the Grand Champion. In addition to the Grand Champion, they award first, second, and third place in honor of the three participating countries.
The 2019 NAIC Grand Champion was Sgt. Benjamin Schropfer with the Nebraska State Patrol. Schropfer has won the NAIC five times and his state title four times.
The CVSA still plans to hold its annual conference and it is scheduled for Aug. 29, 2021, in Wilmington, Delaware.