Nov. 19 – Philadelphia police Tuesday staged a surprise crackdown on the Schuylkill Expressway, report the city’s newspapers. It was the first time city police have teamed up with state inspectors for a large-scale truck strike since Police Commissioner John Timoney ordered officers in July to get tough on truckers.

Twenty-five trucks were pulled over for inspection, and around 100 citations issued. Thirteen trucks were put out of service for violations such as an inoperative low air brake warning device, no front brakes, no medical card, and a precariously secured load of junked cars.
Authorities declared the crackdown a success and said to expect similar inspection blitzes in other areas around the city.
The checkpoint was located at the curve near the 28th street exit, which has been the site of three recent accidents involving tractor-trailers, including one Sept. 30 where a truck swerved to avoid a car and overturned, crushing another car and killing a 63-year-old woman inside. From 1993 to 1997, there were 15 crashes involving trucks.