Seattle Police roll out the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Squad

| Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

(From a dump-truck crash next to Youngstown Arts Center this time last year)
Commercial-vehicle traffic is particularly big for our area with the Port of Seattle stretching into West Seattle, so this is major news: Seattle Police have announced a new task force to keep an eye on commercial vehicles, after discovering they are involved in a sizable percentage of serious local crashes. Here’s the announcement, from SPD Blotter:

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) has partnered up with the Washington State Patrol (WSP) and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to create a Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Squad (CVES). The CVES mission is to improve public safety within the Seattle region by reducing the number of unsafe commercial motor vehicles operating on our roadways through a process of education and enforcement.

The SPD squad is made up of four officers from the Traffic Section who completed a three week long commercial vehicle enforcement training course at the WSP Academy. The four CVES officers will devote their time to enforcing commercial vehicle safety regulations and will also be part of a multi-agency commercial vehicle enforcement task force.

This project was completed in partnership with SDOT and the WSP who provided laptops, weight scales, a CVES enforcement vehicle as well as individual tools and equipment for the officers.

The Port of Seattle, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) and Union Pacific Railway (UP) are also participating in this effort and have contributed additional training, support and facilities.

Over 40,000 commercial vehicles travel on the roadways through Seattle every day. A number of these trucks are operating with safety violations egregious enough to place them “out of service” under federal motor carrier safety guidelines.

After studying collision data in the Seattle metropolitan area, it was discovered that the majority of serious collisions (fatality, serious injury and serious property damage) involved commercial vehicles hauling containers to and from Port of Seattle facilities.

To answer this trend city, county, state and federal agencies have organized a task force to conduct commercial vehicle emphasis patrols. The goal of this enforcement effort is to improve safety by reducing the number of equipment violations and unsafe trucks operating throughout the Seattle region.

Task force emphasis patrols will occur over the next year in areas to be determined by task force agreement.

WSratsinacage December 14, 2011 (3:49 pm)

I saw a Trooper in a SUV pull over a truck this morning about 7:45, just west of 35th on Fauntleroy. This task force is a good idea.

John December 14, 2011 (4:12 pm)

A very good idea.

sbre December 14, 2011 (4:33 pm)

I too am backing this.

timh2o December 14, 2011 (6:27 pm)

I think the short haul rigs are the most dangerous.
They race like crazy to get back for another load. I see them on I-5 everyday going in and out of traffic to get to the WS Bridge. Maybe they should get paid a salary not by the load.

anonyme December 15, 2011 (7:20 am)

Glad to hear this. I live on a local access/weight restricted street with continuous violations by giant trucks. Hopefully this will help.

WSNativeDimBulb December 15, 2011 (9:34 am)

Kudos to the City for this overdue emphasis on an long-standing problem. It is the short-haul truckers, scratching out a living in unsafe trucks on a per-load basis, who are responsible for the bulk of this problem. Regardless, the carnage must stop. I’ve often wondered why the majority of this trucking isn’t performed at night, between the evening & morning commutes. I realize it’s a simplistic solution to a complex issue. However, if all the objections could be overcome, imagine the benefits in reducing daytime traffic congestion, safety, etc.. All without spending any more taxpayer dollars on new streets, flyovers, & the like.

ad December 15, 2011 (10:06 am)

This is terrific. My car keeps getting hit debris (wood, metal scraps) with unsecured loads, I hope they can keep an eye out for that, too! I also frequently witness truckers driving unsafely.

Thank-you, SPD.

AIDM December 15, 2011 (10:37 am)

It would be great if they could focus on the trucks that run red lights during traffic as they approach the port. I have been blocked from going on green many many times. Once I was blocked through 3 successive green lights by three successive red light runners who got caught in the intersection for my green.

JSmith December 15, 2011 (8:07 pm)

@ WSNativeDimBulb

That would greatly reduce traffic congestion, however, the majority of those containers are unloaded/loaded at 9-5 businesses while the truck driver waits.

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