CHP Plans to Target Truckers

Declaring that a spate of big-truck crashes must stop, the chief of the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday that he will soon order a new campaign to crack down on reckless big-rig drivers.

“These clowns just won’t slow down. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t have a [truck-involved] crash,” said CHP Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick.

Separately, Helmick said in a memo to his 6,700 officers that the CHP has an image problem when it comes to enforcing the traffic laws on truckers.

In spite of a reduction in the number of truck collisions over the last year, Californians view accidents involving trucks as a major problem and believe “the CHP is not doing enough to address this issue,” Helmick said.

In the memo, he also mildly rebuked some officers for the misconception that they must get specialized training in order to make the roads safer from reckless truck drivers.

Many violations are easily recognized, he said. “Road patrol officers can have a significant impact by simply enforcing the basic rules of the road.”

Helmick said the intensified enforcement and driver education campaign will start soon and last at least through April.

The program drew immediate support from the California Trucking Assn. “We don’t want to be exposed to someone who is a danger to us,” said Vice President Warren Hoemann.

As a new tool, Helmick said, the CHP will deploy a fleet of 70 high-performance Chevrolet Camaros. Unlike the Highway Patrol’s familiar black-and-white cruisers, the Camaros are white and are designed to blend into traffic so they are more difficult for truckers to recognize.

Disclosure of the plan occurred in the aftermath of two chain-reaction crashes on fogbound highways near Fresno on Tuesday, in which at least two people were killed. Eighty-seven vehicles, including big rigs, were involved.

“These accidents have got to stop,” Helmick said Wednesday.