Mississippi Tries New Technology for Truck Inspections

The Mississippi Department of Transportation is trying new technology that allows enforcement officers to check commercial vehicles while the trucks are still rolling. The real-time safety information could change an insurance agent, carrier and shipper’s viewpoint of a trucker — and their liability if an accident occurs, according to M. Thomas Ruke Jr., president of Insurance Business Consultants Inc.

MDOT is using the so-called Smart Roadside System, funded by a $3.5 million federal grant. The system allows on-the-go checks for license plate numbers, weight loads, brakes and exhaust.

A mobile inspection unit will be used at weigh stations throughout the state. A permanent system has been placed on Interstate 10, near the Mississippi-Alabama state line.

Willie Huff, chief of the enforcement division for MDOT, said the program could expand statewide if the system performs well.

Mississippi is the first state to fully implement all aspects of the system, MDOT says.

“We’re trying to streamline the process of determining which trucks to stop and inspect,” said MDOT Sgt. Jason Rickman. “Right now, we do it at random. But this allows us to flag the trucks that actually might have problems rather than stopping the ones that are OK.”

During a news conference this week, Rickman manned the mobile operations unit inside a fully equipped van outside the U.S. 78 weigh station near Fulton. Several computer monitors displayed information captured by infrared cameras and mobile video feeds mounted outside.

Trucks flagged by Rickman or the computer are reported to officers at the nearby weigh station, who then stop the truckers for an inspection rather than letting them roll through.

Without the equipment, truckers are stopped randomly for inspections, which sometimes last nearly an hour. MDOT inspected more than 63,000 commercial vehicles this year. It hopes the technology will reduce that number by 20-30 percent.

“The truckers lose about $1 a minute when they’re stopped,” Huff said. “So this is good for them, too.”

Along with the mobile van, which will travel around the state, MDOT also has a permanent inspection site at the Orange Grove weigh station in Jackson County. And it has two virtual weigh stations in Warren and DeSoto counties.

Aba Ritter, a trucker for Ft. Worth, Texas-based Felix Transport who was stopped for a random 20-minute inspection Monday. He told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that the on-the-go inspections sound good.

“I have to stop at about five weigh stations a day,” Ritter said. “It’s good if you can keep rolling.”

On the other hand, this means violations for having good tires, a secure load, working lights, a proper driver’s license and being within the required hours of service will all factor into a trucker’s safety rating, Ruke said.