The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department this week reported the results of a coordinated series of inspections on the state's highways last week. Between Tuesday and Friday, law enforcement officers randomly pulled over 637 trucks to see how the large vehicles were performing.
The numbers are daunting.
Out of that group, 149 were in such bad shape, were such a danger to other travelers, they were immediately taken off the road. The most common reason was brake problems.
"That's huge," said agency spokesman Danny Straessle. "These vehicles don't stop on a dime."
No, a fully loaded semi going 55 mph, and how many go that slow, will take about 5,100 dimes to come to a stop once the brakes are applied. That's about the length of a football field. The Highway Department also reported 67 drivers pulled from service. One on suspicion of drinking and driving, others for not documenting logbooks showing their driving time or for driving longer than regulations allow. Tired drivers are bad drivers.
Advocates for the trucking industry point to improvements, such as a drop in fatalities involving semis in recent years. That is good news indeed. But it should be a serious concern for trucking companies, independent contractors and state law enforcement, as well as other motorists, that 20 percent of these spot-checked trucks were so seriously impaired officers prevented them from continuing on their journeys.
We value the trucking industry, because so much of what they carry eventually makes its way into our homes and lives in positive ways. The industry provides livelihoods for millions of drivers and, beyond them, the industry supports even larger numbers in support of their mission. Northwest Arkansas has its fair share of trucking giants and they have histories as top-notch ventures.
Those trucks are a critical component of our North American economic strength. But, through lackadaisical maintenance or poor driver behaviors, they can also become dangers to those millions of other Americans on the road.
No cargo is so important, no route is so critical, that someone's life is worth trading.
Industry leading Safety and Maintenance Cultures are alive and breathing at J.B. Hunt. Aren't you thankful that these two areas are not negotiable when you are driving by our vehicles on the highways every day?
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