Texas Road Check

Every year, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance teams up with law enforcement for an annual Roadcheck event.

The event is in early June every year, and this year it is June 3-5, 2014.

Law enforcement pulls over 18-wheeler's, and other commercial vehicles, for a lengthy safety inspection. These annual safety inspections are all over the country, and in Canada and Mexico.

On June 3, State Troopers stationed at a picnic stop in Henrietta, they pulled over vehicles that might have safety violations.  The violations on the vehicles might not be noticeable to a normal driver, according to State Troopers.

The event has certified inspectors to spot any safety problems. About 1 out of 4 of the 18-wheeler's on the road that are pulled into inspection zones, have the potential of being placed out of service.

The 80-thousand pound vehicles are high risk automobiles, even those without safety problems. Many of the trucks they inspect have equipment issues and problems with securing loads, according to State Troopers.

Also, 25 percent of the semis checked, throughout this event, are place out of service. State Troopers are doing their best to inspect the vehicles thoroughly during the 27

annual Roadcheck event.

"Annually they come together on specific dates and try and get everyone out to check as many trucks and drivers as we can," State Trooper, Sergeant Robert Wilson said.  "Hopefully try and remove all the unsafe trucks and drivers off the road that we can during that given period."

The State Troopers parked up and down Highway 287 on June 3 in search of vehicles that had those violations. The truckers are picked at random, but those selected had to go through a lengthy inspection.

Most inspections take about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the violations found.

"We stopped one gentleman this morning, and he

wouldn't

pull over for the Troopers," Wilson said. "The troopers followed him for a long distance and when he finally go up there beside him, and had his lights and sirens going, the guy finally looked at him. The guy had been on his phone watching videos on his cell phone," Wilson said.

Officers are attempting to get these hazardous vehicles and people off the road. One trucker from Las Vegas, Nevada was trying to get to Dallas, before he was stopped for an inspection.

"Today it has actually been a nice experience the officer he's being very nice," truck driver, Francisco Guadalupe said. "So he inspected my vehicle I told him before hand that I had a problem and he understood, so it hasn't been bad at all."

Guadalupe received a ticket for the violation.  Although he wasn't happy about the citation road checks can be a good thing, according to Guadalupe.

"There are a lot of guys driving out there that have unsafe equipment and that are a hazard to the roads," Guadalupe said. "So yeah I think it's awesome that they do this."

The annual Roadcheck inspections will continue June 5. The Roadcheck event will continue each year at the beginning of June.