The Marion County Sheriff’s Office says they’re working hard to crack down on weigh station dodgers.
According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, in the fall, Marion County Sheriff Jason Myers and the Board of Commissioners were alerted to the ” potential problem related to commercial truck traffic in and around the city of Woodburn. Community members and City of Woodburn Officials indicated that they believed commercial trucks were exiting Interstate 5 prior to port of entry scales and using arterial roads (Boone Ferry Rd and Settlemier Rd.) to travel around the scales and then back onto the interstate,” a Marion County Sheriff’s Office press release states.
After being alerted of the potential problem, the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Safety Team and the Marion County Public Works Department worked together to count the amount of CMVs in the area. From the count, they found that trucks were indeed using Boones Ferry Road, however, they could not determine if the trucks were from local farms or if they were dodging the scales.
Following the count, officers began intermittently stopping trucks in the area. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a 30-day period, officers made 14 stops and issued dozens of citations to CMVs. – Several of the drivers allegedly admitted they were bypassing the scales.
“What we found from these stops really concerned us,” stated Sergeant Moquin.”This poses several safety issues for commuters in this area and causes damage to county and city roadways not designed for commercial traffic. These drivers generally go around scales to either avoid required rest periods, their trucks are overweight or the trucks have malfunctioning equipment. Regardless of the reason, bypassing a scale allows trucks and their drivers to go uninspected posing safety risks to motorists. This is a problem that we will continue to address from an education, engineering and enforcement approach.”
The Marion County Traffic Safety Team is now working with the Marion County Public Works Office, the City of Woodburn, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Oregon Truckers Association to”educate drivers and work on a long-term solution.”
Sergeant Moquin stated, “While we explore this problem as a collective group, TST will continue to be in the immediate area and issuing citations to drivers found avoiding the scales.”
Source and Image Credit: Marion County Sheriff’s Office- Oregon