Overdrive

September 2014

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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40 | Overdrive | September 2014 close scrutiny tions were conducted at a fixed location last year, down from 72 percent in 2011. "While we still operate the fixed facilities, we're doing a lot more mobile traffic enforcement," says Dofflemyer. "We normally do inspections on everything we stop." That can mean a Level 2 walk- around inspection, Level 3 credentials or, less likely, a more detailed full Level 1. While the "scale house has a place" as an inspection facility, Dofflemyer says, "the way we've been looking at it, with the scale houses on interstate routes, the crash problems aren't always in those areas. We attack areas where we have a crash problem," such as the Capitol Belt- way and U.S. Highway 301. "We've been below the national average" in terms of the truck-involved crash rate, he says, but it "picked up a little last year with the recovering economy." Targeting crash-prone areas isn't the only mobile-enforcement priority, however. Dofflemyer relays an anecdote about a trend in violations he noticed in Prince George's County. State police put together a task force with other agencies that have certified inspectors "to flood the area for a week," he says. Such actions, Dofflemyer says, contrib- ute to the state's strong record in main- tenance violations. The share of overall maintenance violations Maryland issued in 2013 ranked No. 9 among the continental U.S. states at 71 percent. It's No. 11 in light violations, 22 in brakes and 14 in tires. For moving violations, the state's sitting right around the mean at No. 25, and it's near the bottom in hours en- forcement. Only 7 percent of violations in 2013 had anything to do with the log book. And while Maryland is quite likely indeed to delay your trips across its bor- ders with an inspection, that closer look could help your or your carrier's CSA Safety Measurement System rankings: 47 percent of Maryland's inspections in 2013 were violation-free clean inspections, compared to 40 percent nationwide. Capt. Norman "Bill" Dofflemyer of the Maryland State Police answers with an emphatic no when asked whether his department tries to offset budget expen- ditures on truck enforcement with ticket revenue from truck enforcement. Besides, "all traffic tickets in Maryland go to the general fund," from which resources are allocated by need, Dofflemyer says. Responsible officers, he says, use tickets as a means to a safety end. Depending on the carrier's background, "They might write a $75 ticket for a fire extinguisher," he says, rather than hit the same carriers for a "brake violation that could have been $500." If the agency has a lot of problems with the carrier, Dofflemyer explains, a hefty fine can be a way to "get his attention." Dofflemyer, aware of abuses or errors by some officers, says he periodically pulls a random 5 percent of all tickets to look for anomalies. "I had one guy who was writing a ticket for each tire," he says. "That's not quality enforcement." EnforcEmEnt: All About rEvEnuE? Inspections per lane-mile 15.9 16.6 18 5.5 5.6 5.6 2011 2012 2013 Maryland National average Violations per inspection: 1.3 national aVerage: 1.6 Violation category Maintenance Lights Brakes Tires Moving violations Hours of service Percentage of all violations 71% 21% 17% 7% 10% 7% National rank No. 9 No. 11 No. 22 No. 14 No. 25 No. 43 vIolAtIon ProfIlE: mArYlAnD source: Unless otherwise noted, all numbers based on 2013 federal data analyzed by rigDig Business intelligence (rigdig.com/bi).

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