General Knowledge · Vehicle Inspection

At the end of a driver's work day, what must the driver do about defects found in a commercial motor vehicle covered by the reporting requirement?

1.Prepare a written report listing any defect or deficiency that would affect safety or could cause a mechanical breakdownCorrect answer

2.Report only defects that already caused a complete mechanical failure or forced the vehicle to stop somewhere along that day's route

3.Tell the next driver verbally at the yard in person, without writing anything down for the motor carrier's files

4.Report the defect directly to a law enforcement officer or a state trooper instead of to the motor carrier

Explanation

A driver must prepare a written report at the end of the work day listing any defect or deficiency that would affect the vehicle's safety or could cause a mechanical breakdown, under 49 CFR 396.11. The motor carrier must then repair anything on that report likely to affect safety, and certify the repair, or that none was needed, before the vehicle is dispatched again. Limiting the report to failures that already happened misses the point of the rule, which is to catch a problem before it fails on the road, not after. A verbal handoff to the next driver, or routing the report to law enforcement instead of the motor carrier, both skip the one step the rule actually requires: a written report that reaches the party responsible for repairing the vehicle.

Source: 49 CFR 396.11

Drill Vehicle Inspection questions

At the end of a driver's work day, what must the driver do about defects found in a commercial motor vehicle covered by the reporting requirement?

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