Park City Police officers worked with Utah Highway Patrol to inspect large trucks this week, seeking to reduce traffic hazards created by faulty brakes and other violations.
Police and highway patrol spent four hours in the Deer Valley Snow Park Lodge parking lot Tuesday. They weren’t just waiting for trucks to happen by – spotters were stationed at typical thoroughfares used by trucks. Those officers pulled trucks over and escorted them to the inspection area.
The two agencies inspected 10 trucks, from dump trucks and construction vehicles to 18-wheelers. Park City Police Captain Phil Kirk said they wound up taking half of them off the road for service and other violations, mostly faulty brakes and excessive cargo weight.
"We try to you know, prevent those accidents from occurring by making sure that truckers and trucking companies know that we're going to be out there actively enforcing the law and the safety regulations for these heavy, large vehicles because if they get involved in an accident, oftentimes, the injurries are very serious," Kirk said.
This week’s operation was the latest in a string of safety checks, which have been stepped up since an accident in July when a truck’s brakes failed and it crashed through the Deer Valley Drive roundabout near City Hall. That truck was later found to have faulty brakes and had not pulled over at the top of the hill for a mandatory brake check before the accident.
"To do a big operation like this, it requires coordination with highway patrol in order to conduct," Kirk said. "Legally in an inspection you have to have a certification and the equipment, and so for both of those reasons we team up with them. We have one full blown inspector with Park City police department, you know, we get four or five patrol troopers and then we have you know, five or six spotter officers. It's a much more involved operation when you know, you put spotters at different major routes for trucks such as the mine road or marsac and Kearns Park Avenue."
According to Police Department, Tuesday’s inspections turned up 8 service violations and 33 other types of violations. Kirk said that downtime for the companies who own those trucks is very costly, and police hope the inspections will spark action to maintain trucks before they’re pulled over.