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Commercial vehicles checked by town police
The Culpeper Town Police Department wants commercial vehicles operating on town streets to meet safety requirements.
That's why four officers from the police department, two Virginia State Police troopers from the Motor Carrier Unit and a representative from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, with portable scales, held a commercial vehicle safety checkpoint on Tuesday, May 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sgt. Jason Deal, who heads up the Special Operations Unit, said the checkpoint was a public safety issue due to the severity of accidents involving commercial vehicles.
Two fatal pedestrian accidents in 2005 and 2006 involving a school bus and a truck made the Culpeper police think about training an officer to examine commercial vehicles. The department had an accident reconstruction team but had to wait – sometimes for hours – for the state police to arrive on scene to examine commercial vehicles involved in accidents.
In December 2007, Officer Andy Berry successfully completed a two-week state certification course in commercial motor vehicle enforcement. During five days in March, Officer Berry underwent field training with three veteran inspectors from the State Police Motor Carrier Unit.
Sgt. Deal said that with Officer Berry certified to inspect commercial vehicles, the department expects to see more violations.
“Every truck I have stopped has a violation – some very minor,” said Officer Berry, of his experiences.
Sgt. Deal said the police department simply wants to make it safer for the motoring and pedestrian public, knowing that commercial vehicles meet state standards for safe operation.
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