April 8, 2005

Lansing - Two hundred and sixty-five citations were issued to commercial motor vehicle drivers during a 24-hour enforcement blitz held along the adjoining borders of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio on Tuesday, April 5.

The operation targeted unsafe vehicles (equipment, weight, load securement, etc.) and unsafe driving actions (speed, safety belt use, driving over hours, unqualified drivers, careless driving, etc.), as well as enforcement of the restricted movement of firewood and Ash log/trees between and across state lines from quarantine areas. The quarantine is in place to prevent the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer, an insect that is currently devastati ng Ash trees in all three states.

During the enforcement operation, 667 commercial vehicles were stopped with 265 citations being issued. There were 52 citations issued for speeding, 45 for equipment violations, 41 for driver qualification and hours of duty violations, 34 for being overweight and 93 other citations for violations such as lane usage, driving while license suspended and possession of radar detector.

There was one drug-related arrest and three vehicles were found to be extremely overweight at 80,000 pounds, 78,300 pounds and 43,400 pounds respectively. Additionally, 341 verbal warnings were issued.

A total of 335 commercial vehicles and/or drivers were inspected, of which nine were carrying hazardous materials. The inspections revealed 715 equipment violations, including 90 serious violations resulting in 72 vehicles being placed out of service. There were also 355 driver violations, of which 49 were serious enough to place 42 drivers immediately out of service.

A total of 65 enforcement members from the Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Division, Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division and the Ohio State Highway Patrol Motor Carrier Enforcement participated in the one-day operation. The operation was conducted on interstate, state, county and local roadways.