Davis Law Group, P.S.

Troopers are Using a Computer System to Catch Tired Truck Drivers

After several truck accidents in the Seattle area, state troopers are finally putting their foot down on tired truck drivers.

Truck drivers are on tight deadlines to reach their destination; therefore they often fake their log book and hit the roadways without having slept, even though their log book may say that they slept.

In the past week, trooper Mike Harmon says that trooper caught at least 60 truckers who faked their log books at Nisqually truck scales.

A huge truck accident last month was caused by a truck dozing off at the wheel on I-5. The driver had allegedly faked entered fakes logs into his book so that it appeared that he had slept, when he had not.

"To them, time is money," said Harmon. "A lot of their companies -- they just push them, push them, push them."

With a computer system, these sleepy drivers can easily be caught. With sensors and cameras planted along the interstate the technology gives troopers details about a truck approaching the scales. This will lead troopers to the driver’s log book.

Troopers are ordering the drivers to pull over and sleep if they find fake logs and fining them $179.

"My gosh, can you imagine what a vehicle that weighs that much with a driver that's that tired?" said Harmon.

Troopers can tell when and where these trucks pass through a scale up to seven days ago with the computer system.