It wasn’t that long ago all phone calls were made from stationary phones hard wired in your home or office. Today, we take cell phones and smartphones for granted. While they help everyone from truck drivers to fleet managers stay connected, they also offer a new way of gaining weigh station bypasses.
Instead of traditional transponders, new Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) transponder technology uses cellular phones and the cellular network to transmit bypass requests from permanently installed in-truck devices as well as mounted tablets and smartphones. Currently, the technology is offered at 270 weigh station or inspection sites in 20 states by Drivewyze. It also provides a free “heads-up” alert when approaching other weigh stations across the United States.
How One Driver Saved $8,800
Mike Shatney, an owner operator since 2006 with his own authority, has witnessed what mobile-based inspection bypass can offer. Shatney, who hauls milk throughout the eastern seaboard, had a pull-in rate of just 3 percent over the last year – 1,053 bypass opportunities with 1,021 granted.
In the past month (February 2014), he’s had 60 opportunities with 59 bypasses, according to a report generated by Drivewyze for Shatney. In total, the report calculated Shatney saved nearly $8,800 in time and fuel over the last 12 months. Broken out, it showed 85 hours in time savings, and 408 gallons of fuel saved. Despite those numbers, Shatney said the reward in using mobile-based inspection bypass is more than just the fuel he’s saving.
“For me, the reward comes from getting good loads, and the ability to bypass while others are stuck waiting to go through weigh stations,” he added.
According to Brian Heath, president of Drivewyze, this transparent, neutral platform allows state agencies to reward safe truck operators (as indicated by CSA scores), with bypass opportunities. “This frees front-line inspection officers to focus their attention on the trucks that need inspections,” said Heath.
“A secure interface inside the weigh station displays the results of each bypass request after it has been automatically processed. Based on carrier, vehicle and driver-level data, and a state’s bypass criteria, trucks are told to either bypass or report to the weigh station. Aside from a 2 percent random inspection, most fleets with high safety scores can enjoy bypass rates of up to 98 percent.”
