Truck inspectors
in Pennsylvania are about to get some high-tech assistance.
The state has purchased the license for 350 copies of
a hazardous-materials software program developed by
RegScan Inc. The Williamsport software-development and
information firm put about 800 pages of federal hazardous-materials
regulations on a compact disk.
Field inspectors
for the state police, Public Utility Commission and
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will turn
to the laptop computers in their vehicles instead of
leafing through a manual to find information about cargo
in trucks, said Daniel R. Smyser, chief of PennDOT's
motor carrier division.
Smyser said
the software will save time, which will translate into
more truck inspections. Inspectors will be able to determine
quickly if material identified in shipping papers and
on placards on the outside of rigs is permitted to be
hauled by truck, is required to be segregated and if
the driver is properly certified.
Smyser estimates
that all the inspectors will have the software and be
trained in its use within three to four weeks. RegScan
will update the regulations at least monthly.
The goal is
to get the software into the hands of all commercial
vehicle enforcement people in the nation, said Allen
E. Ertel, president and chief executive officer of RegScan.
Alabama, Colorado,
New Mexico, North Dakota, North Carolina, South Dakota,
Wisconsin and Wyoming also have purchased the software,
and nine other states are evaluating it, Ertel said.
The federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering
the software for possible use along the border with
Mexico, he added.
Ertel said
development started before the events of Sept. 11 as
a tool to prevent hazardous-materials accidents. After
Sept. 11, the software was enhanced to provide data
on how to react to incidents involving hazardous materials,
he said.
"I believe
one of the major efforts of terrorists will be to infiltrate
the trucking system," said Ertel, a former congressman
and unsuccessful candidate for governor. With this software,
an inspector becomes an instant expert in hazardous
materials, he said.
Legitimate
shippers will have nothing to worry about and will benefit
with shorter delays if stopped for an inspection, Ertel
said. The software is not foolproof, but Ertel predicted
it will make it more difficult to ship something illegal
by truck because more rigs will be inspected.
State Sen.
Roger A. Madigan, R-Towanda, earlier this year sent
a copy of RegScan's compliance software to law enforcement
personnel in the other 49 states. Madigan, chairman
of the Senate Transportation Committee, cited 1999 statistics
from the Motor Carrier Safety Administration that 49
percent of hazardous-materials inspections uncovered
safety violations.
