A new administration in West Virginia means a new emphasis on enforcement of truck weights.

Transportation Secretary Fred VanKirk issued a press release saying that enforcement of weight limits on state roads has been re-instituted. Officials said the prior administration curtailed enforcement crews' activities. (See "Weight Enforcement Down in West Virginia," 1/26/2000.)
"Overweight vehicles - some as much as double the allowable limit - do serious damage to our state highways, in addition to providing the conditions for costly and often fatal accidents," VanKirk said. "For this reason officers from the Enforcement Division will now begin patrolling all highways in each of the counties with traditionally heavy truck traffic."
In recent years, VanKird noted, enforcement officers had been assigned to seven permanent weigh stations and interstate patrols only. Enforcement will continue in these locations, but increased efforts were necessary on other routes.
In September 1998, then-highway commissioner told enforcement officials to pull their officers out of southern coalfields and work the Interstates. Yet the trucks that are typically the worst weight offenders - coal, log and gravel trucks - are more likely to be found on state highways.