When a commercial truck is stopped in New York—whether at a weigh station or roadside—officers and inspectors are typically checking for a short list of issues that increase crash risk: unsafe equipment, unsafe loads, fatigued driving, and missing/invalid credentials. New York follows standardized commercial-vehicle inspection procedures used across North America.
Here are the violations that come up most often.
Common vehicle safety violations
- Brake problems
- Brake defects are consistently one of the most serious and most frequently cited issues in major inspection efforts and are a leading reason trucks are placed out of service (meaning they can’t legally continue until repaired).
- Typical findings include brakes out of adjustment, air leaks, missing/damaged components, or too many defective brakes on the vehicle.
- Tires and wheels
- Inspectors commonly cite low tread, damaged tires (cuts/bulges/exposed cords), and wheel issues such as loose or missing lug hardware.
- Lights and reflective equipment
- Non-working lamps, head lights, break lights, turn signals, and visibility/reflective issues are frequent because they’re easy to confirm during a quick walk-around.
- Load securement
- Cargo issues—like not enough tie-downs, worn straps, missing edge protection, or shifting cargo risk—are a common enforcement focus because they’re visible and can quickly become dangerous.
- Required safety equipment
- Missing or noncompliant items like fire extinguishers and warning devices are also commonly cited.
- No lettering
- Missing or incomplete name, address and/or DOT number on both sides of the truck.
Common driver and paperwork violations
- Hours-of-Service (HOS) and log/ELD issues
- On the driver side, HOS violations are routinely among the top out-of-service categories in large inspection programs.
- Common problems include logs not current, driving beyond allowed hours, or inconsistencies with supporting documents.
- License and medical qualification problems
- Inspectors also check for valid CDL status and required medical qualification documentation, where applicable.
Weight and size tickets are also common in New York
Separate from mechanical “safety defects,” overweight/over-dimension enforcement is frequent—especially in the NYC area—because of infrastructure limits and posted restrictions. Truck enforcement officers will stop vehicles that appear to be overweight (ie, bulging tires, backward tilting cabs, filled above the tailgate line, etc).
What “out of service” means
If a truck or driver is placed out of service, it generally cannot proceed until the violation is corrected.
How to reduce the risk of tickets
A simple routine prevents many common stops from turning into citations:
- Brake and tire checks
- Lights walk-around
- Load securement re-check shortly after departure
- Clean, current HOS/ELD and credentials ready
