Police warn speeding truckers to slow down
Fatal crashes for trucks are up 14% since COVID-19 stay-at-home orders
Truckers kept freight moving the last few months when they mostly had the road to themselves, ensuring grocery store shelves were kept stocked and online purchases made it to doorsteps.
On Thursday, dozens of operators of heavy trucks moving a bit too fast on Route 222 through Berks County got a jarring reminder that the safety rules are still in the books and being enforced.
Officers from Muhlenberg, Exeter and Bern townships, Hamburg, Reading and Wyomissing took part in a truck safety detail on northbound Route 222 in Ontelaunee Township that was hosted by Northern
Berks Regional Police Department.
The activity was part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Operation Safe Driver Week, which continues through Saturday.
Police issued warnings or citations to commercial vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers who engaged in dangerous driving behaviors.
According to the National Safety Council, although Americans have been driving less due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, the fatality rate, per mile driven, increased 14% compared to March 2019. The data point to speeding and reckless driving during the pandemic as the biggest factor in the disproportionate number of crashes and fatalities.
“We realize the motor carrier world kept the county alive during the COVID crisis,” said Exeter police Sgt. David Bentz, Berks County coordinator for the North Central Highway Safety Network. “They kept moving freight and that was awesome. If they didn’t do that, we’d all be in a far worse place.
“However, even with the less traffic on the road, fatal crashes for trucks are up 14% since COVID.”
Bentz said the main objective of the detail was to get truck drivers to slow down. But once a driver was stopped for going more than 10 mph over the speed limit, police were within their rights to ask to see the driver’s service log and check if the truck’s cargo was overweight, as well as checking for equipment violations.
“Unless their speeds are excessive, we’re not writing speed violations,” Bentz said. “But we are stopping all the ones who are speeding and telling them about it, because we need to get that 14 percent back to normal.”
A device placed along the northbound shoulder just north of Route 61 recorded speeds. Vehicles that exceeded the speed limit by at least 10 mph were pulled over by officers on the ramp where the expressway merges with Allentown Pike.
At any one time, three or four 18-wheelers and at least as many police vehicles with flashing lights lined the shoulder of the caneshaped ramp.
By 11 a.m. at least two trucks were taken out of service for being overweight, Bentz said. A report on the number of trucks stopped and citations given throughout the operation conducted from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. wasn’t immediately available.