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Sunday, August 4, 2002

Many trucks on Texas highways don't meet regulations

DALLAS (AP) -- The debate over allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways has centered around safety regulations, but officials say Texas highways already are teeming with unsafe vehicles that don't meet regulations.

Texas, the unofficial truck capital of the world, has become the capital for commercial vehicle fatalities, with 10 percent of the nation's annual share, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.

More than half of the trucks in Texas' heavy truck traffic zones such as Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston don't meet state safety regulations, authorities say.

"If it's not safe, it's just a matter of time before he kills somebody," Lee Jackson, a Fort Worth police officer trained to inspect trucks, said in Sunday's edition of The Dallas Morning News. "The high standards we have in this country sometimes aren't high enough."

Texas truckers opposed to the North American Free Trade Agreement say opening the border to Mexican trucks before summer's end will introduce substandard vehicles to Texas roadways, home to a half-million trucks.

But the danger of truckers who drive deficient trucks is nothing new to the state, officials say. Texas' enforcement system often allows truckers to avoid fines for faulty equipment if repairs are promptly made.

In Houston, an international port city where more than 14,000 trucks travel each day, officers in the truck enforcement unit respond to at least one wreck daily, said Sgt. C.J. Klausner, head of the Houston Police Department's truck enforcement division.

Jackson said Fort Worth averages more than two truck accidents a day. Dallas' average is about the same, police said.

According to data compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety, factors such as speed, alcohol and sleep deprivation as well as defective tires and bad brakes cause most truck wrecks.

"Most people who talk about this issue want to talk about trucks, not the driver," said Dave Osiecki, vice president for safety and operations for American Trucking Associations based in Alexandria, Va. "If we were to put a lot of emphasis on following traffic laws, a lot of safety would be gained. So much of truck safety is rooted in traffic safety."

Mechanical defects are what state truck inspectors such as Jackson find most often when they crawl over, under and inside trucks during routine roadside inspections. They also check logbooks and interview tired truckers during almost 1 million truck inspections annually.

"It keeps us in check," said Sheila Cherry, a truck owner and operator stopped recently off Highway 360 by Officer Jackson and his partner Robert Miller. "I think about my safety also."

Cherry's truck had a chunk torn from the front. The rig was cited for a missing front bumper, no fire extinguisher, insufficient mud flaps, a cracked suspension system and loose shocks.

Cesareo Perez, owner and operator of Perez Trucking in Dallas, blamed a trucking industry slowdown.

"The problem now is work is too slow and too cheap," he said. "We don't have money to do maintenance."

Failed inspections cost truckers money, too. Perez was restricted to the roadside for more than two hours waiting for a mechanic to readjust his steering axles and brakes, and replace missing bolts and headlight bulbs.

Two hours equals two loads, he said, or about $50 in revenue. He pays the tickets, often $200 each, in installments. If he gets the problems fixed within 10 days the tickets are dismissed, providing little incentive to take extra care on maintenance.

David Wallace, director of the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas Transportation Institute in College Station, said brakes are the primary problem in one-third of the trucks inspected on Texas roads.

Anastasia "Nan" Robson is still pushing for prosecution of the driver and owner of the 18-wheeler that jackknifed on a rain-slicked highway in South Texas, killing 20-year-old daughter Natalie Bredthauer in July 1999.

Authorities in Kansas and Florida prohibited the driver of the Alabama-registered truck from driving the rig, which had bad brakes and bald tires. In both cases, the owner provided papers showing that the truck was fixed.

"This scenario shows a lack of enforcement," Robson said. "It shows a lack of correct legislation. It embodies everything that could have gone wrong."

Robson has testified before state and federal legislators that preventive truck maintenance should be more stringently enforced.

The Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act, before the U.S. House Transportation Committee, recommends freezing weight and length limitations on trucks as well as hours of service.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, supports the bill as well as building separate toll lanes for trucks.

But Osiecki said federal restrictions won't make the industry safer because the states must make and enforce the rules.

from the Reporter-News