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DPS to conduct vehicle inspection
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Posted on Jun 03 1999
In the observance of the 1999 International Highway Transportation Safety, the Department of Public Safety will conduct a CNMI-wide inspection of commercial vehicles.
During a press conference yesterday, Major Clyde Norita has advised the public about the strike zones which will be set up on the three islands. On that site, motor vehicle personnel will make a safety compliant inspection for trucks, buses and other commercial vehicles.
According to Norita, after they implemented the safety inspection for commercial vehicles in 1994, 90 percent of the buses and trucks in the CNMI are already compliant.
“We’ve seen a lot of improvement,” he said. Past traffic crashes involving commercial vehicles were attributed to defective equipment.
Capt. Delbert Sablan said the number of crashes for trucks and buses has declined drastically over the years. The present accidents are mostly isolated, occuring in parking lots where drivers find it hard to maneuver the huge vehicle.
Along with this CNMI-wide inspection, the DPS is also calling on the ordinary commuters to share the highway with the commercial vehicles.
Launching the campaign “Don’t hang out in the no-zone”, commuters are advised not to drive along the blind spots of commercial vehicles.
Unlike cars, trucks have deep blind spots directly behind them, it said. Commuters who follow too closely have great chances for rear-end collision with the truck.
Based on U.S. figures, more than 70 percent of the total fatal crashes involving a passenger car and big trucks has named the auto-driver as the culprit of the accident. And because of their size compared to the passenger car, auto drivers have more chances to get killed than the truck driver.
