California Steps Up Truck Checks

Attention truckers in Southern California: Be on the lookout for the California Highway Patrol and the California Trucking Association.

The highway patrol’s border division is stepping up its enforcement of driving laws and hours of service, said Border Division Chief Don Watkins.

In Operation Truck Stop, police will use special “strike teams” with radars and low-profile patrol cars. CHP will fly more aerial patrols and offer educational classes for commercial drivers. The enforcement effort, announced Jan. 15, will extend from Westminster south to the Mexican border and east to Winterhaven on the Arizona border.

Although state police have stepped up enforcement in recent years, truck-related injuries and fatalities have not declined, Mr. Watkins said. In 1997, 364 people died and another 8,421 people were injured in truck-related accidents in California. The numbers declined only slightly from 1993, when 369 people were killed and 8,478 injured.

By contrast, the number of people killed and injured in automobiles has declined steadily over the past five years. In 1997, 3,671 people were killed and 284,871 were injured in accidents. In 1993, 4,163 people were killed and 315,184 were injured.

“Big rigs are subject to intensive inspections by the CHP and other agencies on a routine basis and mechanically are among the safest vehicles on the road. Now we are shifting our efforts to increase attention on the commercial driver,” Mr. Watkins said.

The trucking association endorsed “Operation Truck Stop” as part of its efforts to improve safety, said Warren Hoemann, the organization’s vice president.

“Our No. 1 goal is safety on the roads,” he said. “Our members support the CHP in this effort to stop speeding and reckless drivers, and to make sure everyone on the roads is following the law in a safe manner.”