Lane believes most people think of rate cases and ratemaking when they think of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia.
However, the commission staff and duties involve much more than rates.
Among the myriad of other matters in which the Public Service Commission is involved, she wants a person to remember they are on the front line when it comes to the safety of commercial vehicles, what is called semis or tractor-trailers, and the like.
The commission also inspects buses, taxis and any number of other commercial vehicles, but Lane wants to talk about the primary highway safety duties.
There is a dedicated force of officers in the commission’s transportation division who patrol the roads daily to ensure those big trucks are driving safely.
If one is pulled over for a possible violation, officers have the same authority as a regular police officer. But it has been the policy to call in the state police when an actual arrest has to be made.
Because of a number of crashes lately involving tractor-trailers, the commission has increased patrols and reached out to other branches of law enforcement to help protect one as driving members of the public.
Last year, 19,732 trucks, or 1,644 a month were inspected. They inspected another 381 buses and issued 276 notices of violations.
These inspections evaluate the maintenance and running operations of the trucks they look into. But the officers are also vigilant about a range of other crimes, including drug trafficking and the recently growing peril involving human trafficking.
West Virginia is a natural bridge in the heartland of the East Coast, tying eastern middle America with the Midwest, South and the New York corridor. The number of commercial vehicles that pass through the Mountain State each day is staggering.
Last year, for example, the Turnpike Commission estimated 1.5 million vehicles would travel along the road during a 12-day period, including Christmas.
The commission’s officers also patrol a special network of roads mostly in the southern coalfields that are known as the Coal Resource Transportation System.
This division last year monitored 2.2 million transactions on this system and performed 800 CRTS site inspections.
The actions of the officers resulted in $2.4 million collected for the West Virginia Division of Highways Transportation Fund.
Lane is quite proud of the operations of this division and the dedicated men and women who quietly go about their business of providing everyone with such a high quality of service.
