Highway Patrol Watching Trucks | Video

Jenny Castro | 9/7/2012

The highways in western North Dakota keep getting busier, especially the truck traffic. Commercial vehicles are constantly flowing through the area. Both the highway patrol and truck drivers are taking precautions to make sure the roads stay safe.

Having more truck traffic on the roads doesn`t make driving any easier, but these drivers are just doing their job.

"It`s like anything anywhere, you can get a bad apple but doesn`t mean they`re all bad,” said truck driver Paul Woodard.

Last week, the North Dakota Highway Patrol brought in extra troopers to western North Dakota for a three-day inspection on commercial vehicles in the area. The troopers were checking vehicle weight, driving logs and maintenance issues.

"Sometimes they know there`s an issue, but a lot of times they don`t. If they have a company that is supposed to maintain their vehicles, maybe that just didn`t happen at that particular moment and the driver may have been surprised. But more often than not, it`s a very professional relationship with drivers and they know we`re out there doing our job. Just like we know they`re doing their job,” said Don Neumann, a Highway Patrol trooper and member of the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.

The highway patrol says that the number of violations is consistent with the rest of the country, but drivers say that they`ve had to take extra precautions driving on some North Dakota roads.

"You`re looking at your shocks, your breaks, your tires, your frames, everything, finding out if anything is shaken loose or broken loose. There`s a lot of maintenance that goes on with these trucks out here, they take wear and tear,” said Woodard.

When it comes time for repairs, drivers have a tough time getting into service shops, another reason they`re keeping up on proper maintenance.

"I think drivers take pretty good professional care of their trucks. You have to if you`re going to be out in the off-roads out here and the main thing is watching out for the little guys out here on the roads,” said Woodard.

Since the truck traffic is here for a while, the highway patrol urges all drivers to be more cautious and considerate on the roads.

One of the main issues the for the highway patrol was checking the driving logs and making sure the drivers weren`t too fatigued on the roads. The highway patrol is planning on making these inspections a monthly routine.

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