Cameras on Arizona Freeway Monitor Commercial Trucks
New road-side cameras and embedded sensors are taking the place of truck inspection stations along interstates in Arizona according to local press reports.
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) the cameras are being placed along the Interstate on towers between Casa Grande Valley and Phoenix to monitor big rigs for weight restrictions and other regulations.
The Casa Grande Dispatch reports that the cameras are being installed near the Sacaton Rest Area on Interstate 10, the McGuireveille Rest Area on Interstate 17 and the Canoa Ranch Rest Area on Interstate 19.
The new system includes the cameras, sensors embedded in pavement and electronic signs that direct truckers to pull into a rest area for a secondary inspection.
Not for Speed Enforcement
The state had a speed camera program that then-Gov. Jan Brewer allowed to expire in 2010, but ADOT spokesman Harold Sanders says the current program has nothing to do with speed enforcement.
“The state mandates that commercial vehicles have specific types of equipment that they are required to operate physically, and we are mandated to enforce that along with the Arizona Department of Public Safety,” Sanders said.
The cameras are being installed to ensure commercial trucks are following regulations as part of a plan to make safety inspections on the vehicles more efficient. The plan involves sensors in the pavement that can tell if the trucks are complying by weight standards at the same time that cameras film the tucks and send the information to a database
“It is impossible to stop every truck to do an inspection. It is just a waste of time,” Sanders said.
The new commercial truck regulation program is a $7.5 million plan, with $4.5 million of that going to the technology alone.
“It has nothing to do with speed enforcement,” Sanders said. “This is not photo enforcement. We get so many calls on that from the general public because once upon a time photo enforcement did exist. But it has absolutely no ability to capture that type of information.”
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