A trip contains three inspection moments, and they are not equally weighted. The first is the most demanding and § 1.4 gave it as a gloss; here it is whole. Before driving, § 396.13 requires the driver to be satisfied that the vehicle is in safe operating condition; to review the last driver vehicle inspection report where § 396.11(a)(2)(i) requires one; and to sign that report to acknowledge both the review and the certification that the required repairs have been performed. The signature requirement does not reach listed defects on a towed unit that is no longer part of the combination, and § 396.13(d) permits these reports to be created and kept electronically under 49 CFR 390.32. Note the conditional in the middle duty: there is a report to review only where one was required, and § 11.3 explains when that is.

Two sections in Part 392 tell the driver what “satisfied” has to cover. § 392.7 lists the parts and accessories a commercial motor vehicle may not be driven without the driver being satisfied are in good working order — service brakes including trailer brake connections, parking (hand) brake, steering mechanism, lighting devices and reflectors, tires, horn, windshield wipers, rear-vision mirrors, coupling devices, wheels and rims, and emergency equipment — and it adds a second duty in the same sentence that is easy to skim past: nor shall any driver FAIL TO USE such parts and accessories when and as needed. A working mirror unused is still a violation of § 392.7. The section carries its own list for drivers preparing to transport intermodal equipment, and provides that a driver who operates that equipment over the road is deemed to have confirmed those components were in good working order when they accepted it. § 392.8 handles the emergency equipment on the same pattern: no vehicle may be driven unless the driver is satisfied the equipment § 393.95 requires — another part outside this book — is in place and ready for use, nor may a driver fail to use it when and as needed.

The second moment is the thinnest, and it is worth saying so rather than implying a symmetry that is not there. Part 396 asks for no scheduled inspection en route. What it does is catch the case where something turns up: § 396.7(b) permits a vehicle DISCOVERED to be in an unsafe condition while being operated on the highway to continue only to the nearest place repairs can safely be effected. The load, by contrast, does have en-route clocks — § 10.3 set out § 392.9’s first-50-mile check and the re-examination at whichever of a duty-status change, 3 hours or 150 miles comes first — so a driver who thinks of the middle of the trip as inspection-free is thinking about the vehicle and forgetting the cargo. The third moment produces the only document of the three: § 396.11’s report at the completion of each day’s work, which is the whole of § 11.3.