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16
Where Are They Performed? Impact on Motor Carrier/
Motorcoach Productivity
Almost two-thirds of the respondents said that commercial
vehicle inspections are performed at fixed weigh stations. Nearly 55% of the respondents indicated that the inspection
Approximately 30% are performed by mobile enforcement selection tools and inspection tools they are using today have
teams, while the remaining 4% are conducted at temporary "some" negative impact on motor carrier productivity. Almost
facilities set up along the roadside. Although almost twice as 15% of the respondents believe that these tools have a "sig-
many jurisdictions are performing inspections at fixed sites as nificant" impact on motor carrier productivity, while slightly
opposed to relying on mobile units, 28.6% of the respondents over 30% indicated they are unable to assess what impact the
indicated that their communications infrastructure should be tools they are using have on motor carrier productivity.
targeted for improvement. Assuming that fixed weigh stations
currently have an adequate communications infrastructure
ENFORCEMENT
in place, this suggests that there is an increasing desire to
improve the capabilities of mobile units. Nearly 55% of the respondents indicated that the primary
strategy behind their commercial vehicle safety program is
How Are They Performed? getting problem drivers, vehicles, or carriers off the road
through the issuance of out-of-service orders. One-quarter of
The overwhelming majority (92%) of agencies said that the respondents indicated that their enforcement program was
their inspectors have a laptop computer with ASPEN soft- focused on educating the commercial vehicle community,
ware or other inspection software installed, while only 4% while 21% of the respondents indicated that their enforce-
of the respondents indicated that they are using personal ment strategy focuses on issuing citations. The spread in
digital assistant (PDA) technology in conjunction with ASPEN the responses to this question suggests that jurisdictions
or other inspection software. Despite the widespread deploy- have fundamentally different approaches and strategies in
ment of inspection software, respondents indicated that nearly place for their enforcement programs.
30% of inspections are conducted and recorded manually. Not surprisingly, 92% of the respondents believe that the
Just over 20% of the respondents indicated that inspectors strategies they employ are effective at deterring carriers from
have access to vehicle diagnostic tools (e.g., brake testing operating a commercial vehicle illegally. Only 8% of the
equipment). respondents think there strategies are not effective at deter-
Almost two-thirds (63%) of the respondents indicated that ring carriers from operating vehicles illegally. It is interest-
today's inspection software tools are meeting their needs. Of ing to compare the response to this question to the response
the 37% that indicated that these tools do not meet their needs, to the question about the effectiveness of the inspection tools
60% reported that they are not user friendly, are not effective that are available where nearly 60% of the respondents indi-
for the purposes of identifying noncompliance issues, or do cated that the tools that are available do not meet their needs
not improve the accuracy (i.e., data quality) of the inspection yet 92% of the respondents believe there strategies are an
results. effective deterrent.
