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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Dan Bates / The Herald Washington State Patrol trooper Alice Collins (right) speaks with a truck driver during a surprise inspection Wednesday in a parking lot in downtown Stanwood. A multiagency force targeted trucks on Pioneer Highway after receiving complaints about big rigs on the road. (click to enlarge) Ernie Brown, a commercial enforcement officer with the State Patrol, checks the weight of a truck Wednesday. (click to enlarge) Herald Staff Photo by Dan Bates 101007- Washington State Patrol Commercial Vehicle Division District Supervisor, Ernie Brown leads the way in a parking lot as a truck is brought into downtown Stanwood by a Snohomish County deputy Rich Di Maio (motorcycle) Wednesday during a multi-agency crackdown targeting truckers avoiding the I-5 weigh scales by taking Pioneer Highway through Stanwood. (click to enlarge) Dan Bates / The Herald As a truck driver watches, Don Cobain, a State Patrol inspector, examines a truck stopped in downtown Stanwood on Wednesday. (click to enlarge)   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, October 11, 2007 Trucks hit roadblock: surprise inspections Police stop big rigs on Pioneer Highway in an effort to catch people dodging weigh stations on I-5. By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer STANWOOD -- A parade of trucks lumbered through Stanwood on Wednesday. They were hauling mammoth-sized logs, mounds of dirt, shiny new cars and whatever is pumped out of septic tanks. The big rigs were forced to make a pit stop in town. Police suspect more truck drivers are using Pioneer Highway, a two-lane, curvy country road, to bypass the weigh station off northbound I-5 north of Stanwood, police Sgt. Rob Palmer said. Stanwood police and the Washington State Patrol have received complaints, Stanwood Police Chief Tom Davis said. Illegally loaded trucks likely are getting off at Island Crossing, driving on the highway through Silvana and Stanwood and getting back on I-5 at Conway in Skagit County, police said. "I can't think of any reason a big rig is using Pioneer Highway unless it's a local delivery truck, and there aren't many of those," Palmer said. Stanwood police, with the help of the State Patrol and the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, set up portable scales to weigh the big rigs and inspect safety equipment Wednesday. The four-hour operation confirmed suspicions that some drivers are using the highway to get around the scales. Officers stopped 50 trucks and a little more than half of those were inspected and weighed. Eight trucks were overweight and nine vehicles were pulled off the road because of safety or weight violations. Seven drivers admitted they were using the highway to get around the weigh station. "Those complaints were very valid," State Patrol trooper Kirk Rudeen said. Motorcycle officers patrolled Pioneer Highway and Highway 532 and stopped big trucks and directed them to a makeshift weigh station set up in a large parking lot downtown and also to the weigh station at 300th Street NW. Officers with the State Patrol's commercial vehicle enforcement division weighed the trucks, measured the heights and lengths, kicked tires and inspected driver's licenses and logbooks. "We try not to keep them very long because we know time is money," said State Patrol Sgt. Randy Vranish. "Name one thing in your house that didn't come on a truck. We need these guys. Our job is to make sure they're safe." The first truck the motorcycle officers escorted to the parking lot was 1,100 pounds overweight, police said. The driver was given a $218 fine. The second truck stopped had a loose lug nut and a slight air leak in a tire. That driver didn't get a citation but will be required to document that he repaired his truck. Police say overweight trucks or big rigs without proper equipment aren't just a safety concern. Those trucks can beat up the roads more than legal trucks already do. An 80,000-pound truck causes as much wear on a road as 1,000 cars, said Ernie Brown, a commercial enforcement officer with the State Patrol. Add another 10,000 pounds to that truck and it is like 10,000 cars, he said. "This is about protecting the infrastructure of our roads," Palmer said. Craig Snow, a truck driver from Arlington, was inconvenienced on Wednesday when he was pulled off his route for Peninsula Truck Line Inc. Snow said he understood. "I think they need to do this. To be honest, there's a lot of trucks that don't belong out here," Snow said. "You get a lot of illegal tires and illegal brakes." It's costly to maintain a truck, especially if you're an independent driver, he said. Anything that needs to be fixed on his truck is paid for by the company, and there are mechanics who inspect the rigs before they go out on the road. Independent drivers don't have that luxury, he said. "It's all about safety, though," said Snow, who was found to be complying with traffic laws. Steve Whitney of Mount Vernon was hauling a load of lumber from Woodinville to Bellingham on Wednesday. He makes the trip as often as three times a day. A motorcycle officer stopped him on the Pioneer Highway. Whitney said he wasn't avoiding the weigh station. "It's not illegal. I-5 beats up my truck," he said. "It's a rough road between Stanwood and Mount Vernon." Whitney lined up with seven other big rigs. One strap used to secure the load had to be moved, but everything else was on the up-and-up. "It's a hassle," he said. "I know they have their jobs to do, but it's a hassle."

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