Jul 3, 2018 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – A survey conducted by Waynesburg police over two days in May showed heavy trucks and tankers travel down High Street through the borough’s main business district at a rate of more than one per minute.

“We’ve certainly noticed a lot of trucks coming through town,” police Chief Rob Toth said. “Everybody has noticed that.”

The heavy volume of truck traffic has resulted in more notifications of heavy loads coming through the borough as well as more accidents involving trucks, he said.

In response, the department will increase its focus on inspecting heavy trucks by freeing up its two patrolmen who are certified for commercial vehicle inspections for that task, Toth said.

Police conducted an independent survey of truck traffic on High Street on two days in May and on a third day conducted a survey at the intersection of High and Richhill streets, which also counted trucks entering the borough traveling east on Route 21 and south on North Richhill Street.

The survey, conducted by a department intern, took into account only trucks operated by drivers with commercial driver’s licenses, including oil and gas trucks, buses, dump trucks and oversized loads. It did not include pickup trucks or work vans.

On May 18, between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., 453 trucks traveled down High Street and passed in front of the borough building. That breaks down to 75.5 trucks an hour, or one every 48 seconds.

During the same hours May 24, 648 trucks passed by the borough building. This equates to 92.5 trucks an hour, or one every 40 seconds. From 7 to 8 a.m. that day, 131 trucks were counted, more than two per minute.

The intern also completed a survey during a four-hour period May 31 at the intersection of High and Richhill streets. He counted 650 trucks during that time, nearly three per minute.

“With the high volume of truck traffic, you can understand the public’s concern,” Toth said.

Last year, the borough also saw an increase in the number of accidents involving heavy trucks, Toth said. In 2016, 14 of the 126 motor vehicle accidents reported to police involved trucks. Last year, 21 of 94 accidents involved heavy trucks.

Two borough police officers, Shawn Wood and Marcus Simms, in 2015 completed requirements to be certified in commercial vehicle inspections. The two conduct inspections, but also have had to perform their normal police duties, Toth said.

“We want to free them up to do inspections, without them also having to take regular police calls, ” Toth said.

This will involve having additional part-time patrolmen on duty during the time Wood and Simms are conducting inspections.

“We don’t want to hammer the truckers,” Toth said, noting part of the effort was to increase safety awareness. “The bottom line is we want to make sure the roads are safer for everybody,” Toth said.