The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Thursday, March 11, 2004
Sheriff targets unsafe and overweight trucks --- 400 commercial
vehicles cited since Jan. 1 as part of new crackdown
As
local motorists dodge potholes again this winter, Wayne County
Sheriff’s Deputies have been busy ticketing operators of
the overweight trucks that help cause them, according to Sheriff
Warren C. Evans. One goal of the new sustained effort, he says,
is to keep trucks from damaging roadways and causing taxpayers
additional money to fix them.
“Every day, overloaded trucks tear up our roads and bridges
and place a tremendous burden on taxpayers,” Evans said. “This
heightened enforcement will help send a message that violators
in Wayne County will be held responsible.”
According to AAA of Michigan, an overweight commercial truck causes
the same amount of damage to local roadways as 30,000 – 40,000
passenger vehicles passing over the same stretch of pavement. The
result, according to the National Transportation Research Board,
costs US taxpayers upwards of $1 billion per year in immediate
and long-term pavement damages from overweight trucks.
Since Evans stepped up the county’s enforcement of state
vehicle laws in January, deputies have cited nearly 400 commercial
vehicles. More than half of those citations have been for overweight
trucks, while others have been cited for mechanical problems.
Several of the vehicles cited, in fact, have been several tons
overweight, putting them well over a roadway’s design strength.
Under state law, a vehicle operator can be fined three cents per
pound that a vehicle is overweight by more than 2,000 pounds. The
amount of the per-pound fine increases on a graduated scale, based
on how far the truck is overweight, Evans said.
“A few cents per pound may not sound like a lot, but we
have issued several fines in the range of $10,000 to $12,000 on
a single truck,” said Evans. “A fine that large should
make a truck operator think twice before coming into the county
with an oversized load.”
Evans said that his department splits the revenue generated by
the fines with the community in which the citation was written.
Public Safety Risk
Many of the cited vehicles also have had serious maintenance problems that
can pose a threat to the safety of motorists. Common problems found by enforcement
officers include under- or over-inflated tires, missing tires, leaking hydraulic
fluids, brake failure and steering problems.
“If a truck that weighs 100,000 pounds or more loses control,
the results can be tragic,” Evans said. “If we prevent
one unnecessary fatal accident, then we’ve done well.”
According to the Michigan State Police, there were 39 accidents
involving commercial trucks in Michigan in 2002 that were at least
partially caused by maintenance defects. In those accidents, there
were 15 injuries and one fatality.
Not only has the vehicle enforcement unit issued nearly 200 tickets
for vehicle maintenance-related problems, it actually has had to
take 15 out of service and have them towed.
“It’s incredible that some of the vehicles we’ve
come across were even on the road,” Evans said. “One
truck our officers stopped had virtually no brakes at all.”
Officers also have cited 22 truck operators for driving with a
suspended license and arrested three for driving while impaired.
Unit is self-funding
There also is good news for taxpayers as it relates to the cost of the increased
enforcement; it doesn’t cost them any extra money. Evans says that
the revenue generated through the fines should be enough to pay the officers’ salaries.
“When revenues are short, government needs to find more
creative ways to expand important services like this,” Evans
said.
:: facts about
overweight vehicles ::
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