State Cracking Down On Trucks Topping Weight Law

More truckers will be cited for violating Idaho’s truck size and weight laws and fines will increase as the state tries to correct enforcement problems that led the federal government to threaten to withhold 10 percent of the state’s federal highway money.

The state could lose $10.6 million in federal money if it fails to correct, by October, a myriad of enforcement problems outlined in a federal Department of Transportation report.

The federal probe was triggered by former Lewiston Port of Entry inspector John Welles’ suit charging the state with fraudulently reporting compliance with and enforcement of state truck size and weight laws.

Idaho Deputy Attorney General Steven M. Parry said the suit’s scheduling conference has been delayed until early August to allow the state and Welles to continue settlement negotiations.

Welles now is a port of entry inspector near Coeur d’Alene.

Starting in July, truckers who violate more than one weight law no longer will be cited only for the truck weight violation with the least fine potential. Instead, truckers who are convicted will be fined the full amount for the primary violation and fined $5 for each additional infraction or $10 for each succeeding misdemeanor conviction.