Here is some of the POLITICAL / BUREAUCRATIC issues that go along with State weigh stations, or, Port of Entries as some States call them…
The Federal Government awards States millions, if not billions of dollars each year, for the purpose of highway construction & maintenance, IF the State will enforce FEDERAL size & weight requirements! therefore, weighing, measuring, & inspecting commercial motor vehicles (CMV’s) is a POLITICALLY motivated activity (ie $$$). ALSO… The trucking industry has a VERY powerful lobby in the the Congress, Senate, & all State legislators! SO… States have weigh stations to show the FED they are weighing, but, they DON’T weigh because the State trucking lobby doesn’t want them to… (yes this is true believe it or not) etc… It ALL-WAYS depends on the bureaucrats in power in each individual State. (ie Governor, Head of State DPS & DOT, etc…) ANOTHER thing to think about, the weigh stations are more for the protection of the TRUCKING INDUSTRY then they are for protecting the public nowadays!!! they keep the wolfs from invading the hen house, so to speak.
Overweight vehicles cause damage to highways. The damage increases much faster than the increase in weight.
Some trucking companies like to run trucks overweight because they make more money that way. So you need truck weigh stations so trucking companies will obey the law.
It always amuses me when I see those signs on trucks that say ‘This truck pays $14,000 in taxes each year.’
Um… Well, yeah. Because trucks cause so much damage to the roadway. (Seriously. Drive in the right lanes of the 5 near downtown L.A.) They’re paying taxes to repair the damage they do. Not to mention that unlike the overwhelming majority of cars (that are also subject to road taxes), those trucks are generating income.
The OP’s argument seems weak to me. Voters complain about poorly maintained highways. So you’d figure state governments would be all in favor of fining as many truckers as possible to collect highway funds without having to raise taxes.
My guess is the point of diminishing returns hits quickly though. If a state gets serious about weighing every truck, the truckers are quickly going to realize it and stop running overweight. Then the state has the expense of manning the stations without the benefit of collecting fines.
So there’s probably some sweet spot where you maximize the fines. You want to do the weighing rarely enough that truckers think it’s an acceptable risk to run overweight and frequently enough that you catch as many of those truckers who took the risk as possible.
Yes it is true in a large majority of States, I have 25+ years of service with State & Federal government agencies in this very field. The Original intent of weigh stations was to curtail overweight loads, and protect the roads & bridges as well as increase the safety of truck drivers & truck equipment. But technology is such nowadays to completely eliminate weigh stations with weigh-in-motion, automatic vehicle identification transponders, COMPANY/SHIPPER safety audit / compliance reviews & accountability, etc… all for a much lower expense to the tax payer! do a little research on the subject and you will realize it is all politics these days!!!
Yeah, if you had used only 3 exclamation points, I would not have been convinced. 5 does the trick. Who needs real data when punctuation is on your side???
You should hear the howls of outrage in the aviation community when there is even a suggestion of new equipment requirements. I can’t imagine that truckers would be very happy if they are required to install a transponder.
Apparently, instead of stopping along the highway at stations, they can take care of it in the cities where they are already stopped. This would reduce the need to stop along the highway, making those stations rather redundant for most purposes.
Portrunnerdanielr, welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, we’re glad you found us.
When you (or anyone) start a thread, it’s helpful to others to provide a link to the column in question. Saves search time and helps keep us on the same page. No biggie, I’ve edited a link at the bottom of your post, and you’ll know for next time.
Second, as you may have noticed, we tend to be a very skeptical bunch, and prefer evidence to opinion, so you’ll find some rather pointed comments in response to your statements. We’re that way to everyone, so don’t take offense. But back-up evidence would be helpful.
I’ve no doubt that installing transponders is convenient for the “industry”, but how does it serve to protect the roads and public any less than having every single truck pull into a weight station?
Reading the material at fmcsa.gov, here is a presentation (.pdf) discussing the deployment plan and trial program.
From slide 3:
Slide 4
Slide 15
No doubt electronic monitoring and enabling bypass of weigh stations is a benefit to trucking industries. Anything that reduces their overhead and in route interruptions helps them meet deliveries. But clearly safety was a critical motivation for the implementation of the plan, according to the folks enabling the plan (the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration - FMCSA).
They not only weigh trucks, they also check logs, permits, and in some cases do vehicle inspections.
I used to escort wide loads and some of them were overweight also, so we needed permits where were checked at the weigh station. Also my dad, a long time long haul trucker, would have his truck inspected at the weigh station when he drove into California, he never had a problem because he made sure his truck was properly serviced, but if you got a ding what at a station it was a very expensive fix, after all you couldn’t leave until your truck was fixed, I don’t know if you could turn around and leave the state, the way dear old dad make it sound if you didn’t fix it you couldn’t leave.
That violation rate sounds pretty high, and I think implies that 73% of trucks on the road have safety or equipment violations. I think it should be taken in to account that there’s a strong bias as far as what trucks get inspected. A good commercial vehicle inspector can probably tell as a truck pulling through the station scales whether is needs an inspection or not. So while trucks that get a through inspection are more likely to have violation, every truck that gets weighed (exception of pre-pass of course) is getting an ‘inspection’.
So yeah, some trucks with pre-pass don’t get inspected as often. I would say that the manpower is not there do it, anyway.
You’re put out of service, yo ass is parked in the lot until it’s fixed.
