Beginning this morning, the Highway Patrol will crackdown on motor carrier vehicles avoiding the Hillsborough Weigh Station on I-40. The crackdown will be conducted at the weigh station and on secondary roadways for the next three days and will primarily focus on commercial motor vehicles avoiding the weigh station.

Troopers will also be conducting safety inspections on motor carrier vehicles. “The Highway Patrol is cracking down on big trucks purposely avoiding our state's weigh stations,” said Fletcher Clay, commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. “Overweight trucks compromise the integrity of our highways. I have instructed our Troopers to aggressively crackdown on all commercial motor vehicle violations.”

We know there are overweight trucks that try to bypass our weigh stations and we know where those routes are. On those routes troopers use portable scales to weigh trucks suspected of trying to evade the weigh station. Each year, more overweight trucks are cited based upon our use of portable scales than are cited for being overweight when coming through one of our permanent weigh stations.

 “The Highway Patrol is committed to making the highways as safe as possible,” said Bryan Beatty, secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. “Trucks exceeding weight regulations or in violation of federal safety regulations are dangerous and will face severe fines if stopped during the crackdown.”

This weight enforcement crackdown is the first campaign to concentrate solely on commercial motor vehicle avoiding the state's weigh stations. Troopers will be using helicopters and unmarked patrol vehicles during the operation. Additionally, State Troopers will be cracking down on motorists driving aggressively around big trucks and ticketing speeders, tailgaters, and aggressive drivers.

Motorists may report dangerous driving to the Highway Patrol by dialing *HP on their cellular phones.