The Pennsylvania State Police placed 139 trucks out of service and issued 572 traffic citations during a one-day statewide enforcement effort focusing on commercial vehicles that transport hazardous materials, Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski announced Tuesday in a press release.
The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safe Transportation of Placarded Substances detail (STOPS) was conducted Sept. 22 by state police motor carrier enforcement team members.
"Each year, about 200 trucks transporting hazardous materials on our nation's highways are involved in fatal crashes and 5,000 others are involved in nonfatal crashes," Pawlowski said in the release. "These enforcement details help to keep Pennsylvania's highways as safe as possible for all motorists."
Pawlowski noted that 1,131 commercial vehicles were inspected. In addition to placing vehicles out of service and issuing traffic citations, officers handed out 1,034 written warnings for vehicle and driver violations, and placed 32 drivers out of service. The most common problems involved bad brakes and record-of-duty status violations.
