Milwaukee County Sheriff announces enhanced truck safety enforcement

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – Acting Milwaukee County Sheriff Richard Schmidt has ordered enhanced truck safety enforcement on the freeway. Safety inspection operations on Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs) are being conducted by deputies certified in truck inspections.

According to the Sheriff, unsafe trucks with serious equipment violations, combined with excessive speeds, is a recipe for disaster on the 158 miles of the Milwaukee County expressway system. Truck enforcement requires highly trained deputies who will use their training to take CMVs out of service that are not in compliance.

According to the Sheriff's Office, one of the areas that will see the highest patrols will be in the Mitchell Interchange from west to south which has lots of truck rollovers due to the tight curve.

Sheriff Schmidt said, “The massive size of trucks when not properly maintained provides a significant danger to the motoring public. The Sheriff’s Office enforcement efforts will hold companies accountable for equipment violations, as well as aggressive operators who speed, tailgate and drive without due regard for the safety of the vehicles around them. We are changing the culture to avoid catastrophic consequences."

The inspections cover equipment violations involving brakes, lights, secured loads, suspensions, and tires, along with logbook violations.