CMV Safety | Freight Logistics & Policy | Truck Size & Weight | TACT | Wireless, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communication

NCSHP Motor Carrier Enforcement Focuses on the Shared Responsibilities of Law Enforcement for CMV Safety and Operations in Large, Metropolitan Areas

In North Carolina, the NC State Highway Patrol NCSHP) is responsible for motor carrier enforcement including both the traditional Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) funded by FMCSA and the size and weight program funded from FHWA through the state DOT. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Plan (CVSP), which is the annual roadmap for MCSAP funded activities, identifies as a target goal of CMV crash reduction efforts the FMCSA strategic goal of 1.65 truck involved fatalities per 100 million truck miles traveled. When NCSHP took on the motor carrier enforcement role from the NC Division of Motor Vehicles in 2003, the geographic scope of its crash reduction efforts were that defined by crashes documented (by NCSHP personnel) in its Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.

Because NCSHP had traditionally defined its area of operations as that associated with roadways lying 'outside' major metropolitan areas (e.g, Wake, Guilford, Forsythe, Mecklenburg counties), troopers in general did not respond to, or document, crashes within the boundaries of those areas. Doing so was the agreed upon responsibility of local law enforcement agencies. When NCSHP recognized that its CAD data did not encompass the full geographic scope of CMV crashes defined by FMCSA in its strategic goal (although it was now held responsible for CMV crash reduction in those areas), it began an effort to provide CMV awareness training to enforcement agencies within those metropolitan areas who, in the case of those specific counties, were responsible for 50 percent or more of all CMV crash reports filed in those counties. To the extent that North Carolina continues to experience crash reporting 'accuracy' problems statewide (i.e., continues to a 'RED' state on FMCSA's data quality map), and to the extent that these agencies, while responsible for a large percentage of reported CMV crashes had no formal CMV training, NCSHP began an effort to provide CMV 'awareness' training to those agencies. This training stops short of any intent to make these agencies CVSA-certified for the purpose of conducting formal roadside inspections.

The current presentation was part of the CMV Awareness Training presented to in July 2007 to law enforcement agencies in the greater Charlotte-Mecklenburg area and to those surrounding areas comprising NCSHP Troop H.

An expressed goal of the presentation was to help these agencies appreciate the importance of 'correct' and 'timely' CMV crash data; in particular, its importance to programs like CVISN (Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks) and to CVISN's prominent role in FMCSA's regulation of carrier operations into the future. The presentation also pointed out the uniqueness of Troop H and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area from the standpoint of the pattern of CMV crashes occurring in a large metropolitan area approaching 1 million in population. Specifically, CMV crashes were put into the context of a growing congestion problem in Charlotte as well as Charlotte's place among the 50 most significant CMV bottlenecks in the country. Mecklenburg County is somewhat unique in that while it experiences the highest number of fatal CMV-involved crashes in the State, the likelihood of any given CMV crash involving a fatality is among the lowest in the state – i.e,. high numbers of minor/moderate injury and property damage only crashes, relative few fatalities, comparatively speaking.

The CMV awareness presentation also introduced local enforcement agencies to the notion of the STAA 'truck network' and to restrictions placed on trailers over 53 ft and on twin trailers off the defined network. Those in attendance were briefed on work currently being conducted by ITRE for the NCDOT on off-network crashes. Crashes were plotted against the STAA network and its 3-mile 'buffer' for the counties in Troop H. Crash types were identified for these areas and several clusters were identified and plotted against Google Earth aerial images. All officers in attendance were provided with 100ft open reel tape measures provided by the NC Governor's Highway Safety Program (GHSP) with the specific request that they be used to obtain reliable trailer length and width information on crash reports – inasmuch as this information is often missing or unreliably entered on crash report forms.

Agencies were provided a job performance aid developed by NCDOT Traffic Engineering personnel showing the STAA routes on one side and the NC general statutes on the reverse side to be used in citing violations. This training also discussed the joint role of the state DOT in using these data to more effectively plan for critically needed expansions of the current network, and for the role of the ITRE offnetwork crash analysis data in helping prioritize those improvement needs.

This same type of CMV awareness presentation is planned for agencies in the other major population areas of the state with the dual emphasis on 'safety' as well as CMV 'operations'/congestion. To the extent that FMCSA shares the USDOT strategic objective of congestion reduction, we believe that this type of training, combined with its dual focus on safety and operations, as well as its use of current geo-specific crash data, is directly inline with these types of state and federal objectives.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg CMV Awareness Presentation (PPS:11.9MB)