The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-213-5162
Release Date: Friday, February 25, 2005
Sheriff’s Unit cracks down on county’s overweight "Pothole Making Machines"
Enforcement unit cited 1,400 overloaded trucks in 2004
As motorists clench their teeth during one of the worst pothole seasons in recent years, a team of Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputies is doing its best to crack down on the overweight vehicles that help cause the craters. In 2004, the municipal enforcement unit (MSEU) issued overweight citations to 1,400 commercial truck operators in Wayne County, according to Sheriff Warren Evans.
"Each spring we hear a lot about fixing potholes, but the purpose of this effort is to prevent them," Evans said. "Catching the operators of these trucks, which are nothing more than pothole making machines, and issuing them a significant fine, should make them think twice about bringing an overloaded truck into Wayne County."
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.
The amount of each citation is based on how overweight a vehicle is, Evans said. Under state law, a vehicle operator can be fined three cents per pound that a vehicle is overweight by more than 2,000 pounds.
"It’s a sliding scale. The heavier the truck, the heavier the fine. It’s not at all uncommon for us to issue citations for fines well in excess of $10,000."
Just last week, deputies cited a truck operator who was hauling a construction crane. Though he had a valid permit from the county to transport the item, the axle weight of his truck far exceeded what the permit allowed. "It was so heavy that our scale couldn’t even register it," Evans said.
Each year Wayne County roads workers fill upwards of 200,000 potholes on state highways and county roads at a cost of about $1.5 million.
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