DOT Roadside Inspection Statistics by State

The Six Inspection Levels

Every roadside inspection in the United States is classified under a North American Standard level, and the level decides what the inspector is allowed to look at. Three of them account for almost everything that happens at a scale.

• Level I — the full North American Standard inspection. Driver credentials, hours, and a complete vehicle examination including the brakes, which means the inspector goes under the truck.
• Level II — walk-around. Everything in Level I that can be checked without physically getting underneath.
• Level III — driver-only. Licence, medical card, hours of service, seat belt, paperwork. The truck is not examined.
• Level IV — a one-off special inspection, usually to check a single item for a study or a campaign.
• Level V — vehicle-only, conducted without the driver present, typically at a carrier's terminal.
• Level VI — enhanced inspection for radioactive shipments, with its own criteria and its own decal.

A clean Level I or Level V inspection earns a CVSA decal that generally exempts the vehicle from re-inspection for the rest of the quarter in which it was issued — which is why the level split below matters as much as the raw count.

Before Your Next Inspection