March 31, 2008
Washington State Targets Trucks During Emphasis Patrol
A three-day emphasis patrol by members of the Washington State Patrol in the Port Angeles area led to 13 commercial trucks being immediately placed out of service. The inspection team, consisting of the Washington State Patrol Fuel Tax Investigation Unit and officers from the WSP Commercial Vehicle Division, also conducted safety inspections on 81 commercial vehicles and found 237 equipment violations, such as break adjustment, unsafe tires, light violations and axle spacing. Several of these commercial vehicles were overweight and over $8,700.00 in fines were assessed. Along with the overweight and safety checks, a check of 127 diesel vehicles discovered seven using red dyed diesel illegally. State law requires red dyed diesel to be used in off-road vehicles and equipment only. A licensed vehicle, driven on a public highway, cannot use dyed diesel. “Because of the increase in the cost of diesel we have seen an increase in the illegal use of dyed diesel. We expect the trend will continue as fuel prices increase.” stated Captain Darren Grondel, Commercial Vehicle Division Commander. The off-road or red dyed diesel is not taxed which lowers the cost by 58 cents per gallon. To report illegal use of dyed diesel you can call the Fuel Tax Hotline as 1-800-497-FUEL. All calls to the hotline are confidential.
|
|
|