California Watching Trucks, Hazmat
Trucks traveling in California will be more closely watched than normal, especially if they are carrying hazardous materials.A California Highway Patrol spokesman told Transport Topics that the CHP is stepping up inspections of terminals, drivers, trucks and their paperwork in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The CHP has undertaken a massive inspection of hazardous material transports. Officers are randomly pulling over trucks carrying hazardous materials that for inspections of licenses and other records.
Trucks and drivers carrying hazardous materials have been in the crosshairs of law enforcement since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In the aftermath of the attack, it was reported that some of the suspected terrorists had obtained commercial drivers licenses to carry hazardous materials.
“There’s a lot to think about that didn’t seem as important two weeks ago,” said CHP Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick. “We want to know who the drivers are, where they’ve worked, where they’ve been.”
The CHP has also launched a program in partnership with the California Trucking Association to reduce the number of truck-involved crashes. Patrolmen will be looking for trucks – and passenger vehicles, that may be at risk for initiating a crash on the 100,000 miles of roads where they have jurisdiction.
“We've changed focus our on enforcement, from mechanical inspections to the driver,” said Steve Kohler, spokesman for the CHP. “We are putting a lot more emphasis on the driver, doing things like checking log books and other paperwork.”
Kohler said the CHP would be looking for cars and big rigs that are following too closely or cutting in too quickly, as well as for drowsy or drunk drivers and speeders. The program will run throughout the rest of the year.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that some drivers had said they were being pulled over almost daily as part of the random checks of trucks on California’s highways.
Kohler told Transport Topics that the CHP is attempting to inspect all of the terminals in the state that handle hazardous materials over the next three weeks – a process that is normally is handled every two years. To that end, the CHP has sent 500 inspectors into the field to conduct inspections of company records.
In addition to the terminal checks and the random inspections, CHP employees are paying extra attention to trucks carrying hazardous materials, the Chronicle reported.
The U.S. Department of Transportation defines hazardous materials broadly with materials ranging from laundry detergent to nuclear waste and ammonium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate was used by Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, according to the Chronicle.
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