[December 12, 2003] -
Three years ago a loaded dump truck ran through a Lincoln intersection, hit one car head-on, then crushed another in a Burger King drive-through. Two women died. The truck's brakes had failed. It's a story that illustrates the reason state troopers have inspected more than 23 thousand commercial vehicles in the last year. As "Statewide's" Mike Tobias reports, you'd be surprised to learn how many vehicles have problems so serious they are taken off the road.
[Mike Tobias/Reporting] The State Patrol pulled over this tanker truck from Cozad-based construction company Paulsen Incorporated for a surprise inspection in Kearney. Trooper Toby Czapla performed a full inspection. He checked tires and warning lights.
[Trooper Toby Czapla/Nebraska State Patrol, inspecting truck] When your lights are on, none of your rear signals, turn signals, four way flashers or brake lights work.
[Driver] Is that right?
[Czapla] Yes, when your lights are on.
[Tobias] He got under the truck and checked brakes. Czapla then told the driver why his trip was about to end.
[Czapla, inspecting truck] All four of your brakes, the back two are out of adjustment, the first one, the left one on axle two is out of adjustment, the other one is at its limit and you've got a loose brake chamber on this axle right here. So you're going to be placed out of service for your brakes.
[Czapla] That's, I'd say pretty serious. Half his brakes aren't working properly. He's not able to provide the proper braking application to stop the vehicle when he needs to. If he would have to come to an emergency stop somehow he doesn't have all the power to his brakes that he needs to have applied to it. Quite a problem if he would have to stop suddenly.
[Tobias] These inspections were part of a special enforcement effort targeting commercial vehicles that normally miss other inspection opportunities - like Interstate weigh stations. It's called MAPS, short for Metropolitan Aggressive and Preventive Selection. Troopers inspected 96 vehicles in Kearney. They found 264 violations and issued more than 3 thousand dollars in fines. Thirty-one vehicles had problems so serious they were taken off the road.
[Tobias] A truck that ends up being taken out of service, is that a truck that is dangerous to be on the road?
[Lt. Gerald Krolikowski/Nebraska State Patrol] Yes.
[Tobias] The patrol's Carrier Enforcement Division took over commercial vehicle inspection from the Federal government in 1985. They now check more than 20 thousand vehicles and drivers a year, at MAPS inspections, weigh stations and during other special efforts. Here's what they found during the last fiscal year. More than 27 thousand vehicle violations. Problems serious enough to take about 35 hundred vehicles out of service.
[Krolikowski] Since we started back in '85 I want to say that the equipment has gotten in considerably better condition. Has improved and the companies have done a better job of keeping these vehicles up. But there's still times that you're out there and you shake your head and wonder just how that vehicle, number one got to where you stopped them. And number two is how anybody could not care about the upkeep of that piece of equipment.
[Tobias] Brakes are the biggest problem.
[Krolikowski] These vehicles weigh a lot, it takes a lot to stop them. Therefore you know the brakes are going to wear out. The linings after time they get thinner. And they need to be replaced. So it's not unreasonable to expect that the brakes be the number one out of service violation.
[Tobias] Companies with larger fleets typically have fewer problems. The 10 Nebraska-based trucking companies with the largest fleets all have out of service rates below the national average of 22.9 percent - although even the best see 12 percent of their inspected trucks taken off the road. That varies dramatically from some of the smaller companies whose trucks we saw inspected in Kearney. Fifty-six of Paulsen's 128 units have been inspected in the last two years. Twenty-two were taken off the road.
[Trooper Allen Wilshusen/Nebraska State Patrol, inspecting vehicle] You want to get on the creeper here I'll go up and apply your footbrake. But it's this left brake here on this side. If you take a look at your push rods.
[Tobias] The record for Holdrege-based Kayton Electric is even worse. Seven inspections, 6 units out of service - including this dump truck and trailer.
[Wilshusen] Two brakes on his trailer that were inoperative. And then he had an air leak in his connection between his truck and trailer. The air line that goes from the truck to the trailer. He had an air leak in there.
[Tobias] We asked Kayton president Ted Kayton about his company's out-of-service record. He says Kayton doesn't have a safety problem with its vehicles. He calls most of the problems minor, and says five of the six out-of-service vehicles were repaired and returned to the road the same day.
[Trooper John Frederick/Nebraska State Patrol, inspecting vehicle] Let me check these cross members to make sure they're not cracked and twisted.
[Tobias] Not every commercial vehicle is unsafe. This Roadway truck had just one minor violation, a twisted frame rail on the trailer. Driver Greg Austin got back on the road and fixed it later that night. Austin, who's been driving for 25 years, says he doesn't mind the inspections.
[Greg Austin/Roadway Driver, Grand Island] We try to pre-trip, or we do, we pre-trip before we leave the yard every day. And you never know when you miss something. It just takes a few minutes, and safety is the big thing with us. I've got three grandkids and three kids that are out on these highways too. And we need to keep the junk off the roads.
[Tobias] Tom Clawson, an independent driver for US Xpress, inspects his rig at least once a day. He's never been taken out of service.
[Tom Clawson/US Xpress Driver, Omaha] Head lights, tractor lights, all the lights on the trailer, tail lights, make sure I got brake lights. Just kind of look things over. Look at the brakes, the tires on the trailer, make sure everything's where it's supposed to be.
[Dave Parker/US Xpress] Our equipment is constantly monitored. Our trailers are all of ours. Our tractors with the exception of the independent contractors are ours. So those are constantly going through our preventative maintenance programs, looking at them, checking, and making sure not only they meet the government requirements, but also our own in that they're safely operating out there. The independent contractors or sometimes known as owner operators that are leased into us, we also require that their equipment be regularly checked.
[Tobias] Parker says the trucking industry supports the State Patrol inspection efforts and the number of vehicles taken off the road.
[Parker] I look on the out of service things is something that is good because to the extent you have carriers out there that aren't doing the maintenance programs and therefore, are getting pulled off the roads, that offsets the carriers, the good carriers that are doing the maintenance and keeping their equipment running all the time that somebody's filtering out those people that aren't.
[Tobias] Trucking industry officials say trucks are causing fewer safety problems. They point to national figures showing a decline in accidents involving trucks. It's a perspective backed-up by Nebraska Department of Roads statistics showing accidents involving trucks declining while the number of trucking miles on Nebraska roads increases. Nebraska Trucking Association president Mike Hybl says his industry is cooperating with authorities and running more safety-related programs. And he says companies with commercial vehicles are more concerned about the safety of their trucks and drivers. Pure economics is one incentive.
[Mike Hybl/President, Nebraska Trucking Association] The margins in trucking are very thin, but if you're using either equipment or a driver that shouldn't be out there in that environment, it doesn't help you any.
[Tobias] The best intentions, though, don't hide the fact that even the best companies have out of service rates higher than 10 percent.
[Hybl] Are there a lot of unsafe trucks on Nebraska roads? I would say no. I firmly believe that the majority of the companies, the vast majority of the companies in this state and nationally now that the smartest way to run and be the most profitable is to run safe.
[Tobias] Are there too many unsafe trucks on Nebraska roads?
[Krolikowski] Yes. As well as there are too many unsafe truck drivers and there are too many unsafe car drivers.
[Tobias] Krolikowski says the state will continue to aggressively attack the number of unsafe trucks on Nebraska roads. Thanks in part to Federal funding for inspections, 1.6 million last year, that's expected to continue in the near future. Then maybe more commercial vehicle inspections will end like this one, with a violation-free truck returning to the road. Reporting for Statewide, I'm Mike Tobias.
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