Bobby Simmons is employed as a trooper by the Florida Highway Patrol and his work is to inspect vehicles on the road. He regularly hunches over trucks on I-10 highway and carries out a random inspection of their parts, starting with the steering tie rod which he checks for whether it has a tight fit. Then he goes on to tie rod bolts, steering arm ball joints and other moving parts to make sure they can move and work properly. Bobby Simmons used to work as a mechanic that is why his work of inspection is second nature to him. He will be among the 255 inspectors that are employed nationwide to check trucks for defects and road worthiness in this year’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) International Roadcheck blitz that will run from June 4 to June 6. The theme of this year’s inspection is to check on steering and suspension systems. When one considers all the moving parts in a vehicle which include U-joints, gear box, Pitman arm and the rest, the key to doing a successful inspection is to know the tolerance for movement of all these parts.
Key Takeaways:
- Bobby Simmons is an inspection official that is employed by the Florida Highway Patrol as a trooper and he carries out vehicle inspections.
- Bobby Simmons will carry out an inspection by first grabbing a truck’s steering tie rod to check for whether it is tightly fitted.
- A steering system has a lot of parts that are moving such as the U-joint, gear box, and Pitman arm, and the key is to know their movement tolerances.
“According to CVSA, last year’s Roadcheck blitz took 11,910 vehicles off the road for out-of-service violations in the U.S. and Canada.”