Commercial Motor Vehicle Enforcement: Identifying Appropriate Levels

Brachman, Jarret M · 2013 · ROSA P / Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute

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Summary

This report, prepared by Jarret M. Brachman for the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute in 2013, addresses the challenge of identifying appropriate levels of Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) enforcement. The study was motivated by the need to maximize highway safety and protect infrastructure while operating under stretched budgets and limited resources. CMV enforcement aims to secure compliance with weight regulations, registration fees, and traffic laws to minimize crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. The report specifically examines enforcement approaches in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming to determine if there are major differences in their methods and to evaluate North Dakota’s efforts relative to its peer states. The analysis utilizes public data and documents to compare the four states across several dimensions: Commercial Vehicle Safety Plans (CVSP), audit and inspection levels, traffic enforcement statistics, excess weight fines, and funding. The study draws on data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) for fiscal years 2011 and 2012, as well as state-specific enforcement records from 2010 to 2012. It reviews crash statistics from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to contextualize enforcement activities within broader motor carrier safety rates. The methodology involves a state-by-state comparison of enforcement activities, including roadside inspections, safety audits, and traffic enforcement inspections, alongside an examination of penalty structures for excess weight violations. The findings reveal that CMV enforcement is a locally driven activity with no single ideal combination of instruments. While the four states share similar excess weight fine schedules, North Dakota’s penalties are the most explicitly graduated and steepest at the high end. Enforcement volumes varied significantly; for instance, Montana conducted more roadside inspections in FY2011 than North Dakota and Wyoming combined, while North Dakota performed the highest number of safety audits. Traffic enforcement inspections increased in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana between 2010 and 2012, whereas Wyoming saw a decrease in 2012. Crash data indicated that North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana experienced spikes in large truck involvement in fatal crashes around 2009–2010, whereas South Dakota saw a decline. The report concludes that North Dakota’s enforcement efforts compare favorably with those of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. The significance of this study lies in its conclusion that "appropriate" enforcement levels should be defined by how continuously updated, varied, and responsive enforcement techniques are to local circumstances, rather than by specific application levels of particular techniques. The report suggests that enforcement strategies must be sensitive to spikes in crash rates and tailored to unique geographic and industrial challenges, such as the oil production regions in western North Dakota. It highlights that states are increasingly leveraging technology and targeted enforcement in high-crash corridors to maximize limited resources. The authors note that future studies may produce more robust results regarding the specific impact of particular enforcement efforts on crash reduction.

Key finding

North Dakota's enforcement efforts compare favorably with the efforts of peer states of South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Topics

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• truck driver fatigue
• bus coach