The Maryland State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division troopers, transportation inspectors, and cadets, daily work to ensure commercial vehicles are operating safely on our roads and highways. Their work includes a wide range of inspection and enforcement. In addition to checking the weight of loads being carried by trucks, CVED personnel inspects the equipment on commercial vehicles to be certain it complies with state and federal regulations and they work to ensure commercial drivers are in compliance with those same regulations.
The commercial vehicle industry is a partner in this effort to keep their vehicles and drivers operating safety and the majority of them are in compliance. However, there are vehicles and drivers who operate unsafely and make the important role of CVED personnel a potential matter of life and death.
An example of what CVED personnel detects far too often occurred yesterday at a surprise inspection of commercial vehicles operating on I-495 that were directed into the lots at FedEx Field. A state trooper inspecting a truck tractor found a brake that was inoperative. Not only was the brake inoperative, but the brake chamber had been secured to the assembly by a coat hanger that had been wrapped around it. Then, since the brake was not working, a pair of vise grips had been used to clamp the airline, so air would not be lost in the rest of the system. The vise grips were secured to other vehicle parts with wire ties and a coat hanger.
The truck tractor was immediately put out of service and repairs were required to be made before the vehicle could leave. Although the truck tractor did not have a trailer attached, it alone weighed about 32,000 pounds and it was still very unsafe to have a non-working brake on that vehicle. There was no guarantee the truck tractor had not or would not have been used to pull a loaded trailer with the non-working brake.
The members of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division are committed to working each day to keep Maryland roads safe. They are currently involved in the three-day National Road Check campaign that involves increased and targeted commercial vehicle inspection operations.