Trucks being checked on I-77

Beginning today, the Highway Patrol will conduct Operation Road Watch to crackdown on motor carrier safety violations on North Carolina highways.

Operation Road Watch will be conducted on I-77 in Mecklenburg County for the next two days and will primarily focus on conducting safety inspections on motor carrier vehicles.

“The Highway Patrol is responding to the increase of big truck crashes on our highways,” said Col. Randy Glover, of the Highway Patrol. “We are going to make the highways as safe as possible. I have instructed our troopers to aggressively crackdown on commercial motor vehicle violations.”

In 2009, troopers investigated 5,577 of the 8,641 crashes involving motor carrier vehicles statewide. From these, 98 resulted in fatalities and 1,839 resulted in injuries. Interstate 77 is a busy highway and has a high volume of commercial motor vehicle traffic.

Commercial motor vehicle crashes also contribute significantly to traffic congestion, an increasing problem on the state’s highways. The highway patrol’s motor carrier enforcement section, along with its local partners, has an obligation to both improve commercial motor vehicle safety as well as the efficiency of commercial vehicle operations.

Law enforcement officials believe their efforts will result in fewer serious collisions between motorists and commercial motor vehicles, as well as the significant congestion that such collisions can cause.

Road Watch is the first campaign to concentrate solely on commercial motor vehicle violations and will be conducted in other counties later this year. Additionally, troopers will be cracking down on motorists driving aggressively around big trucks and ticketing speeders, tailgaters and aggressive drivers.

Motorists may report dangerous driving to the Highway Patrol by dialing *HP on their cellular phones.