Transit lobby weighs truck problems

By ROB VARNON

Last year, political activists Jill Kelly and Carol Leighton wanted to find out when the Greenwich truck scales on Interstate 95 were open, but, to their amazement and frustration, the Fairfield residents couldn't get any statistics out of the Department of Public Safety, which staffs the facility.

The reason was simple: Record keeping wasn't a priority at the station and hadn't been for at least three years, according to a state audit dating back to 2003.

"We were shocked by what we found in that auditors' report," Kelly said. So the 100-plus member Citizens Transportation Lobby, which Kelly and Leighton founded almost three years ago to advocate for more transit funding, started another campaign. Since its founding, the group has advocated for more rail funding and has taken up the cause to increase inspections of trucks after a series of fatal accidents in Connecticut.

The Connecticut Transportation Lobby was concerned about truck accidents in the state and the reports the weigh stations were not open very often.

Last week, Connecticut was the site of another truck collision, when a tanker truck carrying heating oil heading northbound went out of control on Interstate 95 in East Lyme, blasted through the Jersey barriers and struck another truck head-on in the southbound lanes, killing three people.

Kelly said her group wants to make sure the State Police can catch truckers who may be tired or driving vehicles that aren't safe, to try to prevent more accidents.

But to do so took a lot of hours and effort by a lot of people, she said.

"We just kept at it," Kelly said, adding that the group distributed copies of the audit report to lawmakers who were surprised the problem had existed for so long.

In its report, the Auditors of Public Account said, "Our review disclosed that there is not a consistent system in place to report" weigh station data. The auditors recommended the state establish a reporting log to track infractions and the Department of Public Safety said it and the Department of Motor Vehicles could work out a system to create such a log.

However, no legislative action was ever taken to have the departments take action — until now.

Friday, Rell signed into law the state's bonding package, which included a regulation requiring the departments of Public Safety and Motor Vehicles create a log for truck infractions that will document how long the five state weigh stations are open. The departments have until Dec. 15 to create the log and will have to report statistics on the stations every six months. Those reports must also be posted on department Web sites. State Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, worked with Kelly and Leighton and said their efforts should help guide others who want to see the state improve.

"You can't just tell your legislator to do what you want, you have to get involved," he said. "There are 5,000 pieces of legislation written each session and only 500 become law."

Duff said that's why people have to be committed to their causes and work with their lawmakers to get things done. In this case, the Citizens Transportation Lobby saw a problem and a way to fix it and worked with lawmakers to make it happen. They didn't show up with a political ax to grind, he said.

State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, worked hard on it, too, Duff said. McDonald had been fighting to get weigh station statistics for years and has advocated opening the Greenwich station for longer hours every day. McDonald was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached.

The two departments must have a system in place to keep track of weigh station activities by Jan. 1.

Rob Varnon, who covers business, can be reached at 330-6216.