The Akron Police Department is waiting for results from an Ohio State Highway Patrol inspection early next week on the truck that crashed into the Cuyahoga River at the bottom of Portage Trail in Akron Thursday morning.
The driver, 41-year old Christopher Burgess, was killed in the accident after police believe his brakes may have given out. The Ravenna man was an employee of Huber Trucking out of Kent.
One of the greatest fears of a truck driver-- loosing the brakes while traveling downhill or around a sharp corner.
What kind of measures does the state take to ensure the safety of the motor carriers?
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio works in conjunction with the patrol to implement and inforce intrastate and interstate trucking in accordance to Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations.
While a number of the violations stem from patrol traffic stops, compliance checks are also conducted at random.
"We'll have an investigator go to a motor carrier's place of business and kind of review all their records and make sure they're on top of all of their inspections, making sure the vehicle is working properly and safely including brakes and lights," Matt Schilling said, PUCO spokesperson.
If companies are found in violation, Schilling says fines from $50 to close to $2,000 could follow, depending on the violation. If a company is found in violation of safety regulations, Schilling says the PUCO will send out an investigator to follow-up on the status of the changes to be made.
With thousands of trucks to regulate, Schilling says the agency doesn't have the capacity to inspect every truck every year, therefore selecting at random is its enforcement of choice.
"There's just thousands and thousands of motor carriers out there and we're only one agency," he said.
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