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Who is ITRE?
Located at North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus, the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) is host to COVER Lab. COVER Lab's support staff provides data analysis, geographic information and program evaluation support to the Motor Carrier Enforcement (MCE) section of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP).
The purpose of this support is to assist the NCSHP MCE group with decision support efforts for safety enforcement and road infrastructure protection measures of effectiveness. This work is accomplished through grants from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) and the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Truck Size and Weight Program. COVER Lab's staff is also involved in collaborative research and development efforts with government, industry, and domain‐specific organizations.
Who is Motor Carrier Enforcement?
In North Carolina, the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) and the state's Truck Size and Weight (FHWA) enforcement activities are both carried out by uniformed members of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) known as Motor Carrier Enforcement (MCE). MCE conducts a large volume of enforcement activities relative to its size and geographic area of responsibility. With approximately 16% of the total NCSHP force involved in motor carrier enforcement, MCE troopers are geographically spread across eight troops throughout the state.
Collectively, MCE troopers inspect approximately 90,000 commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and vehicles each year, weigh approximately 60,000 trucks on portable scales and roughly 4 million trucks at fixed scale facilities, and cite nearly 20,000 CMVs for serious commercial driver license (CDL) traffic violations. North Carolina has the second largest state‐maintained highway system in the nation (NCDOT, 2010). The NCDOT maintains almost 80,000 miles of highways and more than 12,000 bridges.
What are the goals of the Lab?
- Bring focus and direction to CMV enforcement efforts
- Provide intuitive and powerful decision support tools
- Clearly convey risk vs. exposure concepts to enforcement personnel
- Develop and implement performance measures of effectiveness
- Drive down enforcement planning to field supervisors
This site is maintained by VAMS Group at ITRE for NC State Highway Patrol Motor Carrier Enforcement. Institute for Transportation Research and Education | 909 Capability Drive, Suite 3600 | Campus Box 8601 | Raleigh, NC 27695-8601 -- Contact