Truck Inspectors Working Night and Day to Check Vehicles for Safety Violations
W.S.P. inspectors checking trucks for possible safety violations
For the next three days the Washington State Patrol is working around the clock to make sure the trucks that share the highway with you are operating as safely as possible.
Utah trucker Steve Roberson has been on the road since yesterday morning, hauling dairy cleaning equipment to Sunnyside. He says his truck is running safely.
"Mechanically sound, if you stay on top of your mechanics, everything underneath, no it's not that hard to do," says Roberson.
As a commercial vehicle inspector for the Washington State Patrol, it's Keith Qunell's job to make sure that's true.
"Just by looking at the truck sometimes it tells you maybe we should inspect that one you know," says Qunell.
At the Prosser weigh station off Interstate 82, inspectors will check hundreds of trucks to make sure equipment is in optimal shape. They'll examine lights, tires, and get underneath the trailer if necessary, to check for problems.
"If we didn't have commercial vehicle enforcement across the country, we'd have some pretty serious trucks running around causing a lot of deaths," says Qunell.
Qunell checks trucks every day, but as part of "Roadcheck 2011", inspectors will work day and night for the next three days to check as many trucks as possible. He says the inspections give them an insight on what's happening in the trucking industry.
"To see how things are going as far as the trucking industry, violations, what type of violations, out of service, driver hours, are drivers out of service," he says.
It can take about 45 minutes to do a complete inspection on a truck from top to bottom, even under the hood.
Steve Roberson's truck passes with flying colors. He knows it's important to keep trucks operating as safe as possible.
"Whether it being a 4 wheeler, 2 wheeler, or a big truck, nobody hurt," he says.
Washington State Patrol inspectors will also check a truck driver's log to make sure they are taking the required ten hour breaks in between hauls.