Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/709236
August 2016 | Overdrive | 39 scores from public view, recent reports in Overdrive have shown that they re- main a part of the process of securing business for many. The good news is that compared to 2011's nationwide clean-inspection rate, the 2015 rate shows a near 10 percent gain. This means that compli- ance is improving or more states are doing what Mississippi Department of Transportation Office of Law Enforcement Chief Willie Huff says is common in his state: Finishing the job. "Our policy is if you start an in- spection, you should finish it, and do it fairly," Huff says. No state performs a higher percentage of clean inspections than Mississippi, which in 2015 did 67 percent, which is two clean inspections for every one with any violation. As a share of all inspections, clean inspections above 50 percent are pres- ent in only 11 states. Only one other state, low-inspection-intensity Mon- tana, rates above 60 percent. The national average rate of clean inspections has been rising steadily since the advent of CSA in 2010. Yet states such as Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana and Texas show clean-inspec- tion rates between 18 and 24 percent. Explaining the upward trends in clean inspections, Huff attributes it to a compliance culture among fleets. "They're more safety-conscious, em- phasizing it more through their com- munications tools" and other methods. About half of Mississippi's 2015 inspections were done at roadside, half at fixed locations. Some 200 full-time officers are dedicated to truck-en- forcement, of which "75 are assigned portable units patrolling the 82 coun- ties of the state," Huff says. "They can do safety inspections and check fuel tax credentials on routes where they don't have inspection stations. That 75, that's their job, to perform random stops to check for everything." The other 125 officers are assigned to the state's 16 scale locations where inspections commonly are conducted. Some of the "random stops" Huff mentions aren't so random due to means both low- and high-tech. Obvi- ous violations admittedly are targeted, such as "appearance of the truck, is it maintained, clean in appearance, does it have all the mudflaps, does it make an abnormal noise." The state also recently deployed "Smart Roadside" screening tools that Huff says could drive down the state's clean-inspection ranking by focusing on problem trucks. Mississippi has deployed DOT number- and plate-capture tools at the Kewaunee station near Meridian on I-20/59 and at two scale locations on I-10 at the so-called "NASA" station just into the state from Louisiana, and at Orange Grove just inside the Alabama state line. "Virtual weigh station"-type weigh- in-motion scales also are equipped with readers in four off-interstate locations, Huff says: • A two-lane road near Liberty in Southwest Mississippi. • State Route 27 outside Vicksburg, north of Liberty. • U.S. 82 near west-central Greene- ville. • U.S. 61 near Clarksdale in North- west Mississippi. When a truck crosses those areas, Huff says, "We have the weight, the company's safety score, whether the tags are valid. We can sit 10 miles away and wait for the truck to come to us if we want to stop it." More and more, "technology is driv- ing" inspection selection, Huff says, and "if it's available out there, we'll make as much use of it as possible. We might drop down that rung," he says, referring to Overdrive's state-by-state clean-inspection rankings. For most drivers, he guesses that's a good thing, even if it means a smaller share of clean inspections. "If we're being more efficient" about selecting just those carriers that need inspection, and the others avoid wasted time, Huff be- lieves that's a win-win. Clean inspections as a percentage of all inspections 70.9 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Mississippi National average 65.9 65.5 66.2 37.9 39.3 39.6 40 66.9 41.4 Category Maintenance Lights Brakes Tires Moving violations Hours of service Percentage of all violations 79.7% 23.2% 22.4% 7.4% 1.4% 13% National rank of percentage 3 4 7 6 47 19 INSPECTIONS PER LANE-MILE: 6 NATIONAL RANK: 8 VIOLATION PROFILE VIOLATIONS PER INSPECTION: 0.8 NATIONAL RANK: 44 Source: Unless otherwise noted, all numbers based on 2015 inspection data analyzed by RigDig Business Intelligence (rigdig.com/bi) and Overdrive. Matt Cole Mississippi's top 10 inspection intensity ranking is deceiving for those who would read a particular toughness into the state's truck enforcement program's numbers. Nearly seven in 10 of all inspections conducted in Mississippi over many years are clean inspections, finding no violations whatsoever. The next-closest states in the clean-in- spections rankings, Montana and South Dakota, are low-intensity for inspections. California, meanwhile, also known for its high percentage of clean inspections, is nearly 10 per- centage points off of Mississippi's share.