The US Park Police has announced that they will be increasing enforcement on commercial vehicles using the National Park Service’s parkways in the Washington D.C. area.
The USPP says that the parkways are meant to be scenic routes for tourists, but that many truck drivers use them illegally.
They say that some drivers end up on the parkway accidentally because of GPS, but they say that others use parkways intentionally if they are overweight or if they know they have a safety violation. That’s because the $25 citation for driving on the parkway is preferable to being placed out of service by a state trooper on an interstate.
Last Friday, the USPP teamed up with the Metropolitan Police Department’s motor carrier unit to increase commercial vehicle enforcement on Rock Creek Parkway. In the first hour, the agencies had pulled over and ticketed 10 truck drivers for using the parkway illegally. Some truck drivers were hit with fines of $500 to $1000.
In spite of tight resources, the USPP plans to keep working with other agencies to strictly patrol commercial vehicles on the parkways for the next few months.
Sources:
WTOP