Maine Kicks Vehicle Safety Up A Notch

The Maine State Police are planning on starting up an intensive period of commercial vehicle inspections today in an attempt to better public safety, according to the Portland Press-Herald.

Trucks and drivers will be carefully monitored as part of a national safety program that spans three days. Police and civilian inspectors in all 50 states, along with the Canadian provinces and Mexico, will be conducting a bevy of safety checks on tractor-trailer trucks that transport and deliver goods.

In Maine, the officials' efforts will focus on the southern portion of the state, notably the southern terminus of the Maine Turnpike in York County and surrounding roads.

"The overall goal in commercial vehicle safety is to reduce the likelihood of commercial vehicle-related crashes and just making the roads safer," said State Police Lt. Thomas Kelly, head of the state's commercial vehicle enforcement unit.

Inspectors will ensure that truck drivers are properly licensed, that they are keeping logbooks current and accurate, and that they adhere to limits on the numbers of hours behind the wheel. Additionally, inspection crews will check the trucks mechanically to see if tires and brakes are in good condition.

"If you have an 80,000-pound rig coming down the road, you want to make sure the brakes on that rig are adequate to stop that vehicle," Kelly said.

With that same rationale, truckers need to pay strict attention to their driving limits. That way, they will remain alert and able to drive their vehicles safely. Paid by the mile, and with limited time frames to deliver their extremely heavy cargo, commercial drivers often attempt -- to the detriment of the public as well as their own safety -- to keep on truckin' long after the legally permitted 11 hours a day are used up.

Since October 2005, Maine's commercial vehicle enforcement unit has issued orders to 269 drivers, telling them not to drive due to license problems or other violations. The unit also took 1,032 trucks out of service for safety violations in the same period.

The inspections being conducted Tuesday through Thursday of this week cover 37 points, including items related to the vehicle, driver and cargo safety, and other key precautions.

Larry Daniel, of America's Independent Truckers' Association, does not oppose safety inspections, but worries about lengthy delays and  the potential costs to drivers for what he believes is largely a public relations campaign.

"The trucker gets paid by the mile. If he's sitting in a long line waiting for some less-than-interested highway man to perform his inspections, it costs him money or costs him opportunity that he has absolutely no way to recover because he's used up some of his drive time for the day," Daniel said.

The national vehicle safety campaign happens each year at this time, and won't come as a surprise to many truckers. But Kelly still expects many trucks and drivers to fail inspections. To make sure no trucks dodge the inspections, mobile teams will also target secondary roads in Southern Maine, while police will call in aircraft to further monitor back roads.

The three-day duration of the program prevents truckers from simply waiting out the checkpoints. Truckers who pass inspection will receive decals and cards so they are not delayed by inspections in other states. The effort is coordinated in North America by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, which pools police agencies and resources across the continent.