Ensuring safe trailers

The safety of trailers and commercial vehicles is the focus of a bill aimed at protecting other motorists.

Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) sponsors HF2967, which would modify brake requirements on trailers and semi-trailers; reduce the minimum gross vehicle weight of vehicles that may have to stop for vehicle weighing; and toughen penalties for duplicating, altering or forging a commercial vehicle inspection decal.

Approved March 6 by the House Transportation Finance Division, the bill was sent to the House Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee.

The bill would require a trailer or semi-trailer weighing more than 3,000 pounds to have a braking capability, if it becomes detached from the towing vehicle. Current law is more than 6,000 pounds.

“In recent years we’ve seen a number of trailers come uncoupled from power units, and without breakaway braking they’ve gone down the highway and then subsequently impacted other vehicles and have been involved in fatal crashes,” said Capt. Ken Urquhart, commander of the state patrol’s commercial vehicle section.

The weight change would also make the state consistent with federal safety regulations.

The decal provision comes from an incident last June where authorities found that a Winsted man was able to convince his local newspaper to reproduce the patrol’s commercial vehicle safety sticker decals.

“He was passing himself off as an agent of the state patrol and was conducting business as if he was inspecting these vehicles, yet he was not, and he was placing decals on vehicles all over the state,” he said. “Subsequently two of these vehicles turned up in fatal crashes. Once we conducted our investigation we discovered these decals were on hundreds of vehicles all over Minnesota.”

The offender, who was charging $50-$150 per inspection, has been prosecuted for fraud and several other misdemeanors.

A companion bill, SF3542, sponsored by Sen. Michael Jungbauer (R-East Bethel), awaits action by the Senate Transportation Committee.