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Contact: Public Affairs Office, 307.739.3431
Grand Teton National Park, in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Wyoming Highway Patrol, will conduct two days of full-level commercial vehicle safety inspections during the week of July 16-21, 2012. These inspections focus on commercial buses and trucks and evaluate both the driver and the commercial vehicle to ensure compliance with federal regulations that govern these vehicles and to ensure the safety of both passengers and other drivers on park roadways. While these inspections are conducted in a manner to minimize impacts on visitors, they are being announced so tour operators may plan for extended delays. Commercial vehicle operators can expect delays up to 30 minutes between Jackson Lake Junction and Colter Bay Junction due to road construction, as well as delays of up to 30 minutes for vehicle inspections. This is second set of commercial vehicle inspections this summer. On June 19 and 20, 71 commercial vehicles and drivers were checked. These inspections resulted in 26 "out-of-service" violations, requiring the vehicles to be parked until the identified safety issues were resolved. Other safety related violations included unlicensed driver, drivers not being medically qualified to drive commercial vehicles and drivers operating vehicles for too many hours; leaking power steering and air brake systems, excessive oil leaks, and a loose axle; inadequate or inappropriate identification of companies on vehicles or missing U.S. DOT numbers and unsecured or inadequate emergency equipment. Each of the operators with safety violations were cited by the Wyoming Highway Patrol. The vehicles inspected included passenger vans operated by local hotels for touring guests, passenger vans and small buses operating under park permit, commercial passenger buses, delivery vehicles, construction vehicles, and commercial vehicles carrying hazardous materials. |
Last updated: February 24, 2015