Safety concerns rise as rock trucks rumble
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Patrick McElroy inspects a gravel truck stopped at a checkpoint on Farm-to-Market Road 1478 southwest of Lampasas. The Texas Department of Transportation recently paved a short strip on the south side of the road so troopers can perform checks, about 20 percent of which have found violations that disqualify a vehicle from traveling the state road.

M ayor Pro Tem John Cole and his neighbors are

getting tired of gravel trucks.

A resident of Howe Street, the Lampasas councilman said he often sees the vehicles speeding and traveling five or six in a row down the road.

"They come very close together," Cole said.

The Police Department has received an increasing number of complaints about trucks speeding and veering across the center stripe on Howe, Police Chief Tim Angermann said. Officers have posted electronic speedometer signs on the road and sometimes begin patroling as early as 5 a.m. to issue citations, he added.

Cole said he and other members of the City Council initially were told only about 20 trucks per day would travel through Lampasas from a Burnet County quarry on Farm-to-Market Road 1478 (Naruna Road).

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Texas Department of Public Safety troopers Calvin Boyd, left, and Patrick McElroy check a gravel truck along Farmto Market Road 1478. Complaints of speeding and unsafe driving have mounted, particularly from residents of Howe Street and North Avenue, where truck traffic is increasing.

"It was a very low number, and it has consistently increased," the mayor pro tem said.

Because of safety concerns and increasing traffic, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have begun random inspections of trucks along FM 1478. The Texas Department of Transportation recently created a checkpoint about one mile southwest of the city limits by paving a strip long enough to pull over as many as five trucks at once.

Troopers generally perform a "level 2" inspection, which involves checking drivers' licenses, their number of driving hours and vehicle registration, plus other truck paperwork. Troopers also inspect vehicles' tires, lights, fire extinguishers, chassis and brakes -- getting under the vehicle during a "level 1" inspection -- and note whether loads are tied down and covered with a tarp to prevent gravel from flying out.

"Load security is always a big issue," especially with flat-bed trucks, said DPS Sgt. Stephen Fox Bynum.

Not all violations require drivers to take their vehicles off the road. A truck with just one defective tire can continue traveling, DPS Trooper Patrick McElroy said while checking a vehicle, but one with two defective tires side by side cannot continue on its route.

Other disqualifying violations include brake problems and air leaks, Bynum said.

"We note all violations, but of course we focus on the 'out-of-service' violations," the sergeant said.

About 20 percent of trucks qualify as out of service based on either driver or vehicle violations, Bynum said. "That's the scary part."

Matt Tilghman, safety director for Waco-based Lindsey Contracting Inc. -- which operates a quarry in Burnet County southwest of Lampasas -- said his company's drivers have developed a strong safety record. Lindsey employs some drivers to travel routes through Lampasas, but Tilghman said most of the traffic comes from other companies who buy materials from Lindsey's quarry.

"We don't have problems with our trucks," Tilghman said, noting Lindsey trucks passed the recent DPS checks "with flying colors." Other companies' drivers traveling along FM 1478 have received citations, he said.

"It's a family-owned company," he added of Lindsey, "so obviously we take safety very seriously."

The company equips its fleet with global positioning systems that allow safety officers to monitor from a remote location trucks' position and speed at any point on their routes. Full-time safety officers review drivers' records carefully to watch for speeding, Tilghman said.

"If they exceed the speed limit too many times, they don't work for us," the safety director said.

Recent accidents involving rock trucks, however, concern residents and law enforcement officers.

An Aug. 28 collision with a loaded gravel truck-tractor on FM 580 East left a Blanco man in critical condition. The truck was traveling to Waco from a quarry on FM 1478, Bynum said in his accident report.

Another recent wreck involved two rock trucks on U.S. Highway 190 near the Cripple Creek subdivision.

Although farm-to-market roads and city streets leave less room to maneuver, Bynum said gravel trucks pose a risk even on wide highways.

"Any time you put trucks on these narrow roads you're going to have problems," he said. "Even on the big roads it's a concern."

Trucks have been taking shortcuts on North Avenue, Avenues A and B, and other city streets, Cole said, to avoid traffic lights on Key Avenue. Roads are beginning to wear as a result, he said.

"To me, all they're doing is tearing up city streets," said the councilman.

Asphalt on Sixth Street, where Cole said many trucks turned before school resumed, became "grooved" during the summer because of the weight on the street, the mayor pro tem said. He added that Howe Street's northbound lane is bearing too many heavy loads.

"They (trucks) are ruining one lane of the road," Cole said.

While acknowleging that heavy vehicles wear down roads faster than smaller automobiles, TxDOT's Brownwood District Public Information Officer Sandra Parker said FM 580 and FM 1478 did not require any more maintenance than normal during the 2006-07 budget year.

"We haven't spent any more money on those roads than on any others," Ms. Parker said. "We don't see any problems over there right now."

TxDOT received good pavement condition scores and ride scores on the roads, she added.

Cole said heavy trucks have a right to travel FM 1478, but he said drivers' growing use of residential streets is becoming a significant problem.

"The (gravel truck) traffic is significantly greater," he said. "I have no tolerance for the drivers if they speed or particularly if they come down a city street."

Although trucks can stop at a residential address to deliver material, Angermann said a city ordinance prohibits the use of residential streets for heavy commercial through traffic.

"Just for these gravel trucks to go down Sixth Street, that's a violation," the police chief said. "We've been communicating with the truck drivers, and I think they understand that now."

Cole said only the stiffest possible fines and citations will keep gravel trucks off city streets. While the mayor pro tem's main concern remains with residential roadways, he said heavy truck traffic is making Key Avenue more dangerous, too.

"When the lights are changing, they're going through," Cole said, "and some day we're going to have an accident."