Stopping wrecks
Cuts leave a reduced DPS to prevent commercial-truck issues
Nearly two weeks after he dumped a load of coffee creamer on Interstate 10, snarling the morning commute for thousands of Valley drivers, Salvador Sandoval Sandoval was cited at a port of entry in Cochise County for failing to carry a vehicle-registration card.
It would mark Sandoval’s fourth encounter on the road with Arizona law enforcement in the past three years, not counting the Feb. 13 wreck in Phoenix where he was found with a host of violations, including expired registration.
With as many commercial trucks traveling Arizona highways as ever, according to federal estimates, and the number of sworn state Department of Public Safety officers at 2002 levels, policing commercial traffic in the state is an increasingly difficult task, said Bart Graves, a DPS spokesman. The cuts have forced state agencies to rely on each other to accomplish the enforcement and inspections designed to prevent wrecks and the response when they occur.
“It is definitely a challenge for us. Being in better communications with first responders is the key. These things are going to happen, but our response to that is the measure,” Graves said, noting a statewide system that has DPS officers and Department of Transportation officials working on a more coordinated response to wrecks as each agency manages the impact of budget cuts.
The response to wrecks like those that have stalled traffic on Valley freeways in the past month is one aspect, but there are systems in place that officers rely on to identify problem drivers and companies in order to correct errors before those wrecks occur.
Sandoval’s history of violations, like those of Arturo Munoz, the 31-year-old driver killed when his truck slammed into a barrier on I-10 on Thursday morning, would not necessarily have been caught by the standard point system that most drivers are familiar with.
Both drivers had multiple violations ment issues, the types of non-moving violations that don’t accumulate points for a driver but could serve as warning signs for the agencies responsible for tracking a company’s safety history.
Capt. Dustin Coleman, who heads the DPS commercial-vehicle enforcement bureau in the Valley, said the handful of violations each of those drivers had accumulated would not be a red flag for officers, given the amount of time commercial drivers spend on the road.
“Ten (violations) would be a red flag,” he said. “Repeat equipment violators can be issued citations on a case-by-case basis. DPS does review driver and company history during inspections and takes appropriate action, as needed.” under federal law. Since Arizona has adopted those laws, our officers are able to conduct these types of stops,” Graves said. “These stops are made in the interest of public safety and are an attempt to ensure that these large and potentially dangerous vehicles are inspected prior to any significant crashes.”