A truck inspection Thursday morning by Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division (CVED) Trooper Eric Thumb, led to the discovery of a semi-tractor pulling double trailers that was 96,300 pounds overweight. CVED Trooper Eric Thumb was driving through Rushville just before 11 a.m. Thursday morning when he noticed a southbound semi pulling double trailers known as a “Michigan Train” southbound on Main St. at Park Blvd.
From his training and experience Thumb knew that the trailer set up is often used to haul overweight loads, with special overweight permits, across northern Indiana. Trooper Thumb got the truck stopped to do an inspection and discovered the driver, Gene Maag, 36, of Waterloo, Indiana, was driving a truck with no registration plate and no federally required company markings or federal tax numbers on the side of the vehicle.
The maximum allowable weight for a commercial motor vehicle in Indiana, without a special permit, is 80,000 pounds. As part of his vehicle inspection Trooper Thumb weighed the truck and its steel coil cargo, discovering a combined weight of 176,300 pounds, or 96,300 pounds over the maximum allowable weight, without a special permit.
The fines for the overweight violation alone are just under $14,000. The truck, a 2000 Peterbilt, which belongs to Tri-State Trucking, out of Waterloo, Indiana, was impounded and the driver cited for the overweight violation and no truck registration. The driver was also issued a warning for no federally required markings or numbers on the sides of the truck. The steel coils, which had been in route from Butler, Indiana to Madison, Indiana were impounded with the truck until they can be properly unloaded and legally loaded onto other trucks.
Part of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division’s mission is educating and encouraging commercial carriers and drivers in regards to compliance as a way to reduce the potential for dangerous CMV crashes. For more information on the Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division you can visit their web site at https://www.in.gov/isp/3183.htm .
