1,514 Lamp Violations Parked Trucks in the US

Lamps parked 1,514 trucks in the US. That is 12.7% of vehicle out-of-service violations, and fourth place, not second.

A burned-out lamp is the cheapest part on the truck and one of the most expensive reasons to be sitting on the shoulder.

During this year's three-day International Roadcheck, inspectors in the United States wrote 1,514 out-of-service violations for lamps.

Where lamps actually rank

You will see it said that lamps are second only to brakes. In the United States that is not what the numbers say. Here is the top five, straight from the CVSA results:

1. Brake systems — 2,816 violations, 23.6%
2. Tires — 2,669, 22.3%
3. Brakes 20% defective — 1,846, 15.4%
4. Lamps — 1,514, 12.7%
5. Cargo securement — 1,438, 12.0%

Fourth, not second. The 12.7% figure is right; the ranking that usually travels with it is not. Across all of North America lamps fall to fifth, at 1,659 violations and 11.9%.

That is not a reason to relax about lamps. It is a reason to know that tires are quietly running neck and neck with brakes, and hardly anybody says so.

The one place lamps are number one

In Mexico, lamps were the top vehicle out-of-service violation: 14 violations, 28.6%.

Read that number with its size attached. Mexico recorded 49 vehicle out-of-service violations in total during the three days, so a first place built on 14 is a real result on a small sample, not the same kind of statement as 2,816 brake violations in the United States. In Canada, lamps did not make the top five at all.

What the whole check looked like

Inspectors ran 54,575 inspections across North America in three days. Most trucks came out fine: 81% of vehicles had no out-of-service violation at all. The other side of that is 10,350 vehicles, 19%, parked until the problem was fixed.

Those 10,350 vehicles carried 13,924 separate out-of-service violations, because one truck can be cited for more than one thing. And brakes as a whole — systems plus the 20% defective rule — accounted for 5,451 violations, 39.1% of everything.

The rule almost nobody reads: tape counts

Here is the part worth knowing before your next pre-trip, and it comes straight out of 49 CFR 393.11.

Reflective tape is not decoration. On a trailer it is a legal substitute for the reflex reflectors in the table — but only under two conditions, and both are written down:

It has to sit where the reflector would go. The rule says the conspicuity material must be placed at the locations where the table requires reflex reflectors. Tape running wherever it looked good does not satisfy anything.

And it has to be seen from as far. Once installed, it must meet the visibility requirements for the reflectors it replaces. Faded, peeling or road-filmed tape stopped substituting a long time ago, even if it is still stuck on.

Two dates that decide what applies to you

December 1, 1993. Trailers 80 inches or wider with a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds, built on or after that date, must carry a conspicuity system — retroreflective sheeting, reflex reflectors, or a combination, each meeting its own paragraph of FMVSS 108.

December 25, 1968. Every commercial vehicle built on or after that date has to meet the FMVSS 108 requirements in effect when it was manufactured. Older equipment is not exempt; it is held to the rule of its own era.

That second date is the one that catches people buying used trailers. The standard that applies is the one from the year the trailer was built, not the year you bought it.

What this is worth on a Tuesday

Walk the trailer with the lights on, at dusk, not at noon. A marker lamp that is dim rather than dark is the one you will miss in daylight and an inspector will not.

Then run a hand along the tape. If it is lifting at the edges or gone chalky, it is not doing the job the rule says it must do, and it is the cheapest thing on this entire list to fix.

Lamps, tape and wiring are pre-trip items, and they are the ones we see fail first on a road-simulator run. We do heavy truck inspection and repair in Houston, Dallas and Monterrey: thetrucksavers.com.

Reference: CVSA Releases 2026 International Roadcheck Results