Highway Patrol Crackdown on Truckers avoiding Weigh Station I-40

This campaign will concentrate solely on commercial motor vehicles avoiding the state's weigh stations.

August 15, 2007

ORANGE COUNTY NC NEWS -- The Highway Patrol will be cracking down on truckers avoiding the Hillsborough Weigh Station on I-40. The crackdown will be conducted at the weigh station and on secondary roadways for the next three days and will primarily focus on commercial motor vehicles avoiding the weigh station. In addition, Troopers will be conducting safety inspections on motor carrier vehicles.

The N.C. Highway Patrol expressed there are overweight trucks that are trying to bypass weigh stations by use of secondary routes. On those routes troopers will use portable scales to weigh trucks suspected of trying to evade the weigh station. Each year, more overweight trucks are cited based upon the Highway Patrol's use of portable scales than are cited for being overweight coming through the permanent weigh stations.

The Commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Fletcher Clay, said, "The Highway Patrol is cracking down on big trucks purposely avoiding our state's weigh stations. Overweight trucks compromise the integrity of our highways. I have instructed our Troopers to aggressively crackdown on all commercial motor vehicle violations."

Secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, Bryan Beatty said, "The Highway Patrol is committed to making the highways as safe as possible. Trucks exceeding weight regulations or in violation of federal safety regulations are dangerous and will face severe fines if stopped during the crackdown."

In July, North Carolina State Highway Patrol conducted "Operation Road Watch" at the I-77 rest area and other locations in Mecklenburg County. For two days Troopers primarily focused on safety inspections on motor carrier vehicles in that area. Below is the North Carolina State Highway Patrol's results from Operation Road Watch:

• 290 Commercial Motor Vehicles were inspected by Troopers
• 151 Driver violations issued with 26 removed from service
• 235 Truck violations issued with 35 trucks removed from service
• 211 trucks were weighed
• total over-weight pounds equaled 139,950
• $8,072.80 collected for over-weight fines
• $7,851 collected for out of service fines

In addition, Troopers issued 144 citations for various violations. The out of service violations issued are serious offences, and result in the driver or the vehicle being placed out of service. The truck or driver will not be allowed to operate on the highways until all the safety violations are corrected and fines paid.

The difference between the current operation and Operation Road Watch is, this campaign will concentrate solely on commercial motor vehicles avoiding the state's weigh stations. Troopers will be using helicopters and unmarked patrol vehicles during this operation. As always, State Troopers will be cracking down on motorists driving aggressively around big trucks and ticketing speeders, tailgaters, and aggressive drivers. Motorists may report dangerous driving to the Highway Patrol by dialing *HP on their cellular phones.

Published by:
Rob Cross
mailto:editor@357news.com

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