Last Updated May 5, 2025
The freight industry is loaded with safety regulations and inspections, and for good reason, as keeping the roads safe needs to be a priority for everyone within the industry.
The most notable routine trucking safety inspection is DOT Blitz Week.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) conducts DOT Blitz Week annually. It’s imperative for truck drivers, shippers, and carriers to have an understanding of what DOT Blitz Week is, when it happens, and what it involves.
What Is DOT Blitz Week?
DOT Blitz Week, also known as the CVSA International Roadcheck, is the largest targeted safety enforcement program held annually across North America.
The purpose of CVSA’s international roadcheck is to keep the roads safe by performing full scale safety inspections on semi-trucks and drivers. This includes ensuring driver compliance, up-to-date licenses and permits, and proper equipment upkeep.
More specifically, the 2025 CVSA inspection will include checks on:
- ELD compliance
- Tire treads
- Breaks
- Suspensions
- Exhausts
- Lights
A level 1 DOT inspection is the most common inspection during blitz week, which includes thorough driver and vehicle inspections. There are six DOT inspection levels in total. However, not all of them are applicable to every type of trucking company.
When Is DOT Blitz Week?
DOT Blitz Week 2025 will be held over a 72-hour period from May 13-15. The specific timeframe of blitz week changes on an annual basis, but it typically occurs in mid-May.
Inspections are unpredictable, as they can occur at any time during this period.
To help trucking businesses feel prepared for the 72-hour blitz, the CVSA offers both a vehicle inspection cheat sheet and a driver inspection cheat sheet.
DOT Blitz Week 2025 Focus Areas
For each annual inspection, the CVSA designates two “focus areas” for blitz week. In 2025, tires and false records of duty status (RODS) will be the CVSA’s two areas of focus for their roadside inspections.
Records of Duty Status (RODS)
The FMCSA requires every trucking business to have active records of duty status. If you’re new to the industry, these are essentially log books that truck drivers use to track hours of service. RODS should include drivers’ hours logged behind the wheel, their rest periods, and when they’re off the clock.
Logging Hours-of-Service (HOS) is critical to ensure drivers are getting ample rest and aren’t driving impaired. If a driver is proven to have not complied and logged their hours, they are subject to an Out-of-Service (OOS) violation and can be kept OOS until the ban is lifted or corrections are made. Carriers are also subject to penalties–even prosecution.
Carriers and drivers should expect inspectors to focus on the following:
- Electronic logging device (ELD) tampering
- False drivers, or “ghost drivers,” the illegal practice of a driver or company falsely claiming a co-driver in the truck
- Adverse or unsafe driving conditions
- Falsely reporting time off-duty while actually behind the wheel for a carrier
Tires
When tires aren’t properly installed, replaced, and inspected, it not only poses a threat to truck drivers but also every other person and vehicle on the roads. We’ve all seen pieces of semi-truck tires strung out along the highways. Those can cause serious damage to vehicles and even accidents.
Like RODS violations, tire violations are a common cause of out-of-service violations.
CVSA inspection officers will prioritize the following:
- Flat tires or air leaks
- Low tire tread depth or sidewall separation
- Exposed belt material or casing ply
- Separate or bulged sidewalls or treads
- Parts of items lodged between two tires
- Ineffective or illegal attempts at repairs for these issues
The CVSA recently highlighted their reasoning behind their focus areas for DOT Blitz Week 2025.
“Proper tire maintenance cannot be overstated,” CVSA said. “Tire failure while in transit is a hazard to all motorists.”
They also acknowledged that–while the blitz inspection might feel like a hassle for trucking businesses and their drivers–getting ahead of potential tire problems will be worth it in the long run.
“It is far more expensive and time consuming for motor carriers to repair an in-transit tire failure versus proactively maintaining tire health and addressing tire issues before the vehicle is on the road.”
Remember that if you have any questions surrounding more details of the inspections, you can revert to the CVSA-issued cheat sheets.
How Does a CVSA International Roadcheck Affect the Supply Chain?
New trucking business owners might be curious as to how the CVSA inspection will affect their operations.
First and foremost, there will be fewer trucks on the road at any given time during this 3-day period. With a reduced supply of trucks, shippers may have a hard time finding and scheduling carriers to ship loads. Given the increased demand for carriers, it’s reasonable to expect an uptick in spot market rates as a result.
There’s also the chance that carriers will be forced to give up loads that they had scheduled due to delays or changes caused by inspections. If a vehicle inspector finds that drivers or truck equipment aren’t within regulations, they might get fined and be unable to get back on the road for a period of time until the issue is resolved.
Some drivers even call off to avoid getting caught if they know they aren’t compliant. This further exacerbates driver and truck shortages during DOT enforcement week.
All of these factors provide evidence as to why the entire supply chain can be affected by DOT Blitz Week to an extent.
In-Summary: How to Prepare for DOT Blitz Week
Shippers and carriers alike should be prepared for the 2025 CVSA Roadcheck to potentially impact their operations. Shipments are commonly delayed during the 72-hour blitz, so that should be taken into account if you’re in a cash flow crunch or you’re already operating on thin margins. Make sure to have a plan in place if this occurs.
If you’re a shipper, you should take this international roadcheck seriously. Safety regulations and general trucking compliance aren’t the most fun aspects of running a trucking business, but according to Jennifer Lockett, altLINE freight factoring operations manager, it’s imperative to prioritize from Day 1.
“Carriers need to stay on top of these regulations and mandate drivers to do the same,” Lockett said. “Once you get behind on one aspect of compliance, it can be easy to start putting off regulations-related tasks entirely, creating a snowball effect. It can then become really time-consuming and costly to get back within full compliance.”
According to Lockett, getting many carriers who’ve fallen behind with compliance take off during blitz week to avoid penalties.
A few ways to prepare and ensure full compliance for DOT Blitz Week include:
- Review your DOT compliance checklist prior to the inspection
- Consider having an additional driver (or drivers) on standby in case the scheduled driver is impacted by the inspection
- Be flexible with pick-up and drop-off dates during the period (for shippers)
- Communicate with your respective shippers or carriers set to work with you between these dates beforehand to have plans in place in case of disruption
Truck and driver inspections may seem tedious and even annoying at times, but remember that there is a valid reason behind them: to keep the roads as safe as possible. If you’re making a genuine effort to do your part, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about for this year’s blitz week!
Michael McCareins is the Content Marketing Associate at altLINE, where he is dedicated to creating and managing optimal content for readers. Following a brief career in media relations, Michael has discovered a passion for content marketing through developing unique, informative content to help audiences better understand ideas and topics such as invoice factoring and A/R financing.
