A Minnesota State Patrol group this week stepped up commercial vehicle enforcement in the International Falls area.
Lt. Ron Silcox, of the Minnesota State Patrol division of commercial vehicle enforcement, said six officers were in the area Monday and Tuesday to ensure safety and compliance with regulations.
By noon Tuesday, the patrol group had made 51 inspections, and from those issued 118 warnings and 21 citations. Three vehicles were found to have violated weight limit regulations. Four vehicles were placed out of service for safety violations, and one driver was placed out of service for safety violations specific to the driver, according to Silcox.
Scott Dane, executive director of the Associated Contract Loggers and Truckers of Minnesota, said that the increased enforcement bordered on harassment of one particular industry — loggers.
Dane said he received calls from several loggers in the Borderland area complaining about the increased enforcement.
“It’s disruptive, particularly in the final days of the timber harvest season,” Dane said. “You can take any truck on the highway — you can dig deep enough and find something wrong.”
Dane explained that detaining truckers, even if they are found to be in compliance, costs the logger money due to lost time.
“Delays like that are unnecessary and unprofessional,” Dane said.
And although Silcox said that the patrol did not specifically target the logging industry, the timing coincided with a change in weight limits and the natural end to the logging season when many truckers would be working against the clock to deliver their final loads.
At 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, spring load restrictions began and winter load increases ended in the Minnesota Department of Transportation “north zone” of the state, which includes Koochiching County and other counties along the Canadian border.
“Truck weight restrictions are used in the spring to help preserve pavements that lose strength due to partial thaw conditions and trapped water,” said Keith Shannon, director of MnDOT’s Office of Materials. “The ending dates for spring load restrictions are variable and dependent on weather condition changes.”
The entire state is currently under spring load restrictions.
“It was the worst possible time,” Dane said of the increased enforcement.
But according to Silcox, the efforts were intended to increase the safety of all motorists using area roads.
“The time to do preventative maintenance is worth the time and effort,” Silcox advised truckers. “Sitting by the side of the road is not doing anyone any good. Spend time doing routine maintenance before putting the truck on the road.”
He said that the number of citations and warnings was not alarming, but that the goal of his department is to not find anything wrong and have all truckers be in voluntary compliance.
Dane disagreed: “Saturation efforts do not improve safety on the highway one bit.” He called the efforts a way to generate revenue for the State Patrol through citations.
