been
been giving you an inside look at the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
We've told you the history...how
they
use aviation and K-9s...and
tonight...we show you what
safety issues troopers look for
on the
roads. Photojournalist
Paul Kwapich has the story.
Our main focus is obviously the
safety of the travelers through Ohio and our focus is on the big
trucks,
we're looking for safety
issues...obvious ones might be
turn signals not working, no
brake lights and they can always
start as something simple like
no mud flaps and once we get
them to the shoulder we do a
further investigation and find
out whatever other safety issues
there might be. You know when
the
the patrol was founded in the early 30s they were looking and starting to see a problem with
commercials especially
unlicensed commercials,
overweight and general
licensing. You know when a
commercials overweight and
they're not in the proper roads
that causes a lot of damage to
the roadways so when we were
formed that was part of the task
and today we have license and
commercial standards which is
the same exact function that we
were formed. Their job is to go
out and we have troopers that
are dual purpose troopers that
work the side of the road just
as any trooper well but they
have additional training which
enables them to enforce and look
for federal license standards
for commercial vehicles and
those are the semi's and the big
18 wheelers you see rolling down
the road. We also have a
division with the state patrol
that focuses strictly on
commercials and they focus on
the federal licensing and
commercial standards that are
required and that's what they
enforce. They don't work the
road as a trooper They focus
strictly on trucks and those
individuals that you may see on
the side of the road have white
cars with red light bars, so
that's the difference, if you
see a white state patrol vehicle
with just a red light bar
they're focused strictly on
commercial vehicles. And when
they go out there looking to
make sure the commercials
because the commercials are an
integral part of how we function
as a society, we need them to
get whatever materials they are
hauling, whatever goods they're
hauling we need theowhereve tyn
get whatever materials they are hauling, whatever goods they're hauling we need theowhereve tyni
commercials that are a erenthc.
eel rssignly ht nu hl tho you w
hauling we need theowhereve tyni commercials that are a erenthc. eel rssignly ht nu hl tho you wt
have es yesis els driv
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arepro an harders. ydoing the r
have es yesis els driv ntyoumake sure that the dho arepro an harders. ydoing the ro
of sehenthey need to be off an
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arepro an harders. ydoing the ro of sehenthey need to be off an as welle uwhether you're v comms
ut thay svehicles, if they're it
s eenon heo
the asA
he i,contact, and it's notiquth
they've been inv
accident, they
need assistance on sie
the road, their ca bdown or the
accident, they need assistance on sie the road, their ca bdown or they
have a question abtaeit may be.
need assistance on sie the road, their ca bdown or they have a question abtaeit may be.e
patrol dispatcher. He othe one d
directing that assistance. now
they're not seen a lot a
th'ide oroad they're not incarb
there an absolutely
invaluable asscwithout them the
th'ide oroad they're not incarb there an absolutely invaluable asscwithout them theu
be unable to do trb
are the ones
receiving the phone call,they'r
be unable to do trb are the ones receiving the phone call,they'ry
directing law enforcement, the
troopers to the scene with the
crash is, they're getting the
ambulances rling eegetting all
that necessary equipment to make
sure we're providing theassista
ambulances rling eegetting all that necessary equipment to make sure we're providing theassistag
help as quick as possible.Awhat
that necessary equipment to make sure we're providing theassistag help as quick as possible.Awhate
piece and as safe as posse They
sure we're providing theassistag help as quick as possible.Awhate piece and as safe as posse They,
weigh a lot more nk
very important that doing it sa
piece and as safe as posse They, weigh a lot more nk very important that doing it sat
surrounding motorists arod
them can travel safely as w
as
as possible They're a bigger vehicle, they weigh a lot more I think it's very important that
they're doing it safely so that
the surrounding motorists around
them can travel
safely as well.
safely
safely as
safely as well. O-S-H-P has a new regional
Twitter account to report safety and
traffic information that affects
us here
in Northwest Ohio. You can
follow
them at "O-S-H-P underscore N-W-
Ohio."
To re-watch any of our four-part
series with the Ohio State
Highway Patrol...visit our
website WTOL dot
com.
com.