Drivewyze Inc. announced that Kansas has become the 17th state to adopt the Drivewyze Pre-Clear bypass service, which uses tablets, smartphones and select electronic on-board recorders to provide commercial vehicles with inspection site bypass opportunities.
“With Drivewyze PreClear now available at all eight weigh station locations in Kansas, truck freight can be moved through the interior of the United States with fewer delays,” said Brian Heath, president of Drivewyze Inc.
By adding the Drivewyze mobile-based inspection site bypass service, the state of Kansas can offer truck fleets and operators more opportunities to bypass its weigh stations if their safety and credentials records meet the state’s pre-arranged criteria.
“Drivewyze is reward-based because an FMCSA study demonstrated that avoiding one weigh station stop made for even 5 minutes can save a carrier $8.68 in fuel and time,” Heath said.
“We are excited about adding any technology that helps us improve highway safety,” said Capt. Chris Turner, commander of the Kansas Highway Patrol’s Commercial Motor Carriers Safety Assistance Program and the Kansas accident reconstruction team. “Because Kansas lies at the center of the country, we have a large of amount of truck freight that passes through Kansas as it travels our major interstates and highways.”
The state of Kansas has 9,503 center lane miles of highway and 236 center lane miles on the Kansas Turnpike, a toll road operated by the Kansas Turnpike Authority. According to the 2009 Kansas City Regional Freight Outlook report issued by KC SmartPort Inc. and the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), an estimated 291 million tons of truck and rail freight was handled within the 18-county Kansas City area alone. By 2027, KC SmartPort Inc. and the MARC estimates regional rail and truck freight will increase from 246 million tons in 2007 to 349 million tons in 2027, a 20-year compound annual growth rate of 1.8 percent.
“Drivewyze offers a win-win because it does all the hard work of identifying the trucks and carriers passing by the weigh station and alerting us which ones operate safely and which ones require more scrutiny,” Turner said. “It’s all automated with the exception of trucks chosen at random for inspection regardless of their safety record. Any technology that can help reduce the strain on our weigh stations of increasing truck freight traffic and reduce the resulting congestion by helping us properly vet the trucks and carriers is a huge benefit to us and to the safety of the motoring public.”
