Transport Technology Today July 2011 : Page 8

Feature Les Wood ■ Contributor Making “ ope In today’s fast-moving world, truck companies need to get their drivers from point A to point B as quickly, easily and safely as possible. While stopping at highway weigh stations and inspection facilities is critical to ensuring highway safety, it costs commercial operators time, money and fuel. In fact, when weigh stations’ ramps are full and trucks back on to the roadway, safety hazards result. To help make highways safer and more efficient, ACS, A Xerox Com-pany, operates a service called PrePass, which allows truckers to comply electronically with state safety, weight and credential requirements while bypassing weigh stations at highway speed. Vehicles bypassing inspection facilities save valuable time, cut operat-ing costs, and reduce fuel consumption and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. The result is increased trucking productivity, better serv-ice to local shippers, a cleaner environment and improved safety for all highway users. How PrePass works PrePass is provided through a not-for-profit, public-private partner-ship called Heavy Vehicle Electronic License Plate Incorporated (HELP), which was established by states and commercial carriers to deploy intel-ligent transportation systems that benefit the government and motor carrier industry. Using this public-private approach, HELP delivers ad-vanced transportation technologies faster and more cost-effectively than traditional government approaches. Currently used at more than 290 locations in 30 states, PrePass is an automatic vehicle identification system that enables participating, transponder-equipped commercial vehicles to comply electronically throughout the nation at designated weigh stations, port-of-entry fa-cilities and agricultural interdiction facilities. Vehicles participating in the PrePass program are electronically checked for compliance with the same requirements as vehicles that are manually inspected. Safety, credential and weight criteria are estab-8 July 2011 T3/TMW Systems

Making the road “open” again

Les Wood, Contributor

In today’s fast-moving world, truck companies need to get their drivers from point A to point B as quickly, easily and safely as possible. While stopping at highway weigh stations and inspection facilities is critical to ensuring highway safety, it costs commercial operators time, money and fuel. In fact, when weigh stations’ ramps are full and trucks back on to the roadway, safety hazards result. To help make highways safer and more efficient, ACS, A Xerox Company, operates a service called PrePass, which allows truckers to comply electronically with state safety, weight and credential requirements while bypassing weigh stations at highway speed. Vehicles bypassing inspection facilities save valuable time, cut operating costs, and reduce fuel consumption and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. The result is increased trucking productivity, better service to local shippers, a cleaner environment and improved safety for all highway users. How PrePass works PrePass is provided through a not-for-profit, public-private partnership called Heavy Vehicle Electronic License Plate Incorporated (HELP), which was established by states and commercial carriers to deploy intelligent transportation systems that benefit the government and motor carrier industry. Using this public-private approach, HELP delivers advanced transportation technologies faster and more cost-effectively than traditional government approaches. Currently used at more than 290 locations in 30 states, PrePass is an automatic vehicle identification system that enables participating, transponder-equipped commercial vehicles to comply electronically throughout the nation at designated weigh stations, port-of-entry facilities and agricultural interdiction facilities. Vehicles participating in the PrePass program are electronically checked for compliance with the same requirements as vehicles that are manually inspected. Safety, credential and weight criteria are established by each PrePass member state based on their own unique priorities. The PrePass process breaks down into three simple steps: 1. Trucks enrolled in PrePass are assigned small, wireless transponders that easily mount on the vehicle windshield. As one of these trucks approaches a PrePass-equipped weigh station, an electronic reader over the road automatically scans the transponder and identifies the vehicle. 2. A secure PrePass computer located inside the inspection facility checks the vehicle’s information to ensure compliance with state requirements. At the same time, an in-pavement weigh-in-motion scale verifies the truck’s configuration and weight. 3. Finally, the truck’s transponder receives a signal indicating whether the vehicle may bypass. If the vehicle is not in compliance, or is selected for a random manual inspection, a red light on the transponder alerts the driver to pull in to the weigh station. However, if the vehicle’s credentials, safety and weight are all in order, a green light directs the driver to bypass the facility. The benefits of PrePass PrePass provides operating efficiencies that help the trucking industry better serve customers, increase fuel efficiency and business profits and speed commerce, all while improving the environment. The PrePass solution doesn’t just benefit the truckers on the road; it also improves safety on the highway, as well. As commercial vehicles exit and re-enter the highway to stop at weigh stations and inspection facilities, they not only reduce the productivity of the truck companies, they can cause traffic delays and create safety problems for other drivers on the road. By eliminating the need to stop, PrePass helps to create a smoother and safer driving experience for everyone on the highway. Since its beginnings in 1997, PrePass has saved more than 22 million hours of unnecessary truck engine idling, equating to a fuel savings of more than 133 million gallons. In a time when everyone wants to become more sustainable, this is a win-win solution for the trucking industry and our nation’s environment. As more states adopt the PrePass solution and the benefits of PrePass grow, our nation’s highways will hopefully begin to open up again and offer safer, more efficient travel for all drivers on the road. T3 Les Wood is the vice president of Commercial Vehicle Operations, which manages PrePass.

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here