There's a One In Four Chance The Truck Behind You Has Got Crappy Brakes

Kris Kristofferson's abs & Ali MacGraw's hair don't care about no DPS crackdown

​The Texas Department of Public Safety has wrapped up its latest crackdown on truck inspections, and the news isn't good, if you enjoy things like surviving trips on the interstate.

About 25 percent of the trucks DPS pulled over were ordered off the roads "because they were found to have serious enough safety violations to be removed from service until repairs could be made," DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange says.

Every fourth truck barreling by on the highway is defective? Good to know.
"Vehicle out-of-service violations included 900 for brakes out of adjustment, 702 for brake system problems, 283 for tire or wheel issues and 322 with light malfunctions," Mange says. "Overall, 27,143 violations were documented as a result of the 6,906 inspections conducted."

Well, at least it was only sixteen hundred trucks with brake problems.

Drivers also got nabbed during the June 8-10 crackdown, mostly for record-keeping lapses. Four, however, "were placed out of service for drug or alcohol violations," Mange said.

So the next time you're trying to weave your way through semis on the two-lane section of I-10, speeding your way to New Orleans without a care in the world, keep in mind that those trucks you're playing with may not be quite as ready to react as you'd think.