CHP SERVES REPAIR ORDERS AT TRUCK STOP; INSPECTIONS AIMED AT SAFETY.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Texas trucker Bonnie Armstrong hauled produce from Ventura County to Dallas for two years without being stopped for an inspection, but her luck ran out Friday at the California Highway Patrol's Conejo Inspection Facility.

Armstrong's rig didn't have the required 90-day permit sticker, giving civilian inspectors a reason to bring the rig off the scales and into the inspection bays. It was taken out of service for violations including worn brake linings, a missing brake spring, loose suspension bolts, and a loose air-tank fitting.

Within a few hours, a mechanic made the necessary repairs and Armstrong was back on the Ventura Freeway to pick up a load of strawberries in Oxnard.

``I've been out here before. I've just never been stopped,'' she said. ``I guess it was just my turn.''

In fact, of more than 1 million trucks expected to move through the Conejo facility this year, fewer than 2 percent likely will get the 20- to 30-minute Level 1 examination that can reveal sufficient mechanical problems to put a rig out of service, CHP officials said.

The inspection facility at the top of the steep Conejo Grade is one of California's key choke points for truck traffic - everything from moving vans to 53-foot trailers - ferrying cargo north and south on the West Coast.

Loaded trucks are weighed, and weights are compared with allowable axle load limits. Although all are subject to inspection, just 16,059 were given the Level 1 examination last year. Of those that were, 33 percent were taken out of service for repairs, according to California Highway Patrol records.

Hit and miss

``There are just so many trucks, we can't inspect them all,'' said CHP Sgt. Kent Kilgore. ``It's just a hit-and-miss type of thing.''

The Castaic Inspection Facility on the Golden State Freeway, the region's other primary north-south stop, recorded 1.28 million trucks last year. Only 13,214 were given the detailed examination. Major repairs to the facility prevented inspections for two months and limited them in three other months.

Of the trucks that were examined, about 24 percent were taken out of service, according to CHP records.

``We are strategically located,'' said Sgt. Tim Kappen, noting that trucks must stop in Castaic before climbing and then descending through the notoriously nasty Grapevine. ``We inspect the weights, loads and mechanical issues before they hit that hill there.''

Crash prevention

Motorists noted that the Conejo Inspection Facility was closed Feb. 16 at the time of a tragic crash near the base of the grade. CHP officials said a runaway truck and trailer, carrying a front-loader, rammed a pickup truck into a hillside, killing Ismael Chaidez, a Moorpark father of two who operated a housecleaning business.

The Conejo facility has been notably busier since heavy rainstorms damaged a Highway 118 bridge near Moorpark. Hundreds of trucks whose drivers normally avoid the Conejo Grade - to save time, gas and a random examination - have been forced to use the Ventura Freeway daily and pass through the inspection facility.

Traffic has been so heavy, ``there've been a few times where we've turned our sign off and let the traffic backup bleed off a little,'' Kilgore said.

As a resident of Moorpark for six years, Victoria Chaidez is familiar with the rigs that roll along Highway 118 as it becomes Los Angeles Avenue through the city. She hesitates to blame increased traffic over the grade for her husband's death, but the thought lingers.

``The thing that comes to mind is that the 118 is closed down, and I know a lot of trucks use that and they can't do that now, so there's a lot of traffic going over the grade,'' she said. ``I have to wonder if he (the truck driver) was blaring his horn and flashing his lights to indicate that there was a problem.''

Had the CHP facility been open, the truck would have been stopped at the scales. It could have been inspected, as the truck's 90-day permit sticker expired last August, Kilgore said.

``He was definitely eligible for one of our random inspections,'' Kilgore said.

Yet Kilgore said an inspection might not have prevented the crash. The driver, James Greene of Simi Valley, told authorities brake failure sent his truck and trailer careening down the grade, but Kilgore said the preliminary inspection does not support the claim. ``Our guy who went out and did the inspection said there was nothing obviously wrong.''

CHP investigators have not completed a final report or decided whether to ask the county District Attorney's Office to seek vehicular manslaughter charges against either Greene or the truck and trailer's owner, U-Rent Inc. of Camarillo, said Officer Dave Cockrill.

Kilgore noted that having an expired sticker, as the U-Rent truck did, is not a violation. The stickers - in four different colors for the four quarters in a calendar year - are used to make sure trucks are inspected every 90 days.

Highway hub

Inspections mostly occur at the highway facilities. The Castaic facility, which takes in northbound traffic, is open around the clock weekdays and from 6:45 a.m. to 11:15 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

The Conejo facility operates for northbound trucks around the clock Monday through Friday and until 5 a.m. Sunday. For southbound trucks, where there is no inspection bay, the facility is open from 5:45 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and this year began operating on staggered Saturdays from 5:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.

``If we're trying to accomplish the goal of compliance and safety, then we need to be accessible and operating,'' said Sgt. Sherie Latimer, a Conejo facility official.

The CHP also has teams inspect trucks at company yards and check company logs, and there are mobile teams in pickup trucks who set up portable scales along highways five days a week at various daylight hours.

Truckers pulled in for inspections at the Conejo facility on Friday said the checks are just a part of doing business on the nation's highways.

``I think it's all right. It does take time, but it's for safety,'' said Ken Le Jeune, who has been driving a rig from his home in Church Point, La., for six years. ``There's a lot of things you check on your truck that you don't see that the officer does.''

Hesperia trucker Luis Rojo said the company he drives for, Montana Brand Produce of Salt Lake City, keeps its trucks in good shape. ``They look at it every three or four days.''

So Rojo said the inspections don't slow his travels. ``It doesn't take much time. Maybe once in a while a tire might be worn.''

The inspection process, including the 90-day permit stickers, is regulated by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. The nonprofit organization based in Bethesda, Md., was established in 1982 by state regulatory agencies, led by California, Oregon, Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia.

The cornerstone includes standard training, inspection criteria and out-of-service standards, said Larry Stern, director of administration.

``You had (federal) deregulation and a lot more truck traffic, and truck traffic has been building every year,'' Stern said. ``It was made much easier for anyone to haul just about anything.''

Stern explained that the federal Interstate Commerce Commission previously regulated trucks by controlling who could haul certain commodities over designated routes. The emphasis has shifted from such economic controls to safety.

``We're doing 2 million inspections in North America a year,'' he said. ``The motor carrier industry overall has improved.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--2--Color) Trucks on the Ventura Freeway wait to be checked for obvious defects at the Conejo Grade. A few will get a more thorough inspection, as by California Highway Patrol specialist Terry Russell, giving a rig a 20- to 30-minute Level 1 examination that can reveal mechanical problems.

(3) Trucker Bonnie Armstrong of Dallas waits while her truck gets inspected on the Conejo Grade. She needed to go get repairs.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News