'It shouldn't take one dead person'
KING COUNTY, Wash. -- Every day, King County Solid Waste is gambling on the public highways. For years, they've sent overweight and illegal trucks onto the roads with drivers praying they won't cause an accident.
A KOMO News investigation revealed the situation last April, but drivers insist the county's done little to fix it. And KOMO News has obtained new evidence of the dangerous nature of overweight loads.
Dan Dantzler drives one of King County Solid Waste's big semi trucks. He loves his job, but worries about what our investigation revealed after digging through county records: over the past three years, Solid Waste had more than 19,000 truck make trips with loads over the legal weight limit.
"It shouldn't take one dead person before somebody's gonna try to fix the problem," Dantzler said.
John Arsenian has been driving big trucks for more than 50 years. His thoughts on the overweight trucks?
"It's criminal as far as I'm concerned," he said.
Drivers say it's not just illegal but also dangerous because heavier trucks can't stop as quickly.
"And if there's anything that happens, whether it's your fault or not, you can't stop that rig and the outcome is going to be bad," said Dantzler.
Prompted by the Problem Solver investigation, King County Councilman Larry Phillips asked the county ombudsman to investigate.
"This is a great example of our employees having the courage to step up, to blow the whistle, and say, Listen, this isn't right. We've got to change things," Phillips said.
But King County Solid Waste told KOMO News and the King County Ombudsman's Office, that trucks that weigh more than the state limit are still safe to drive, according to the manufacturer.
"We're comfortable that we're operating a safe system," said director Kevin Kiernan said.
But there's new evidence that highlights the dangers of overweight loads. The federal Department of Transportation examined thousands of large truck crashes across the country. In one out of five crashes involving overloaded trucks, the review found, the extra weight was cited to have been the likely cause of the crash.
The findings are no surprise to the county's drivers.
"No, it's not safe," said Dantzler.
The findings are also no surprise to the Washington State Patrol.
"It's very dangerous for everybody, not just for the drivers (but also) for the motoring public," said code enforcement officer Kevin Valentine.
But Solid Waste director Kevin Kiernan says, "I can speak to our record."
He insists Solid Waste operates safely, even with illegally overweight trucks.
"As far back as our database goes, which is 1992, we haven't had an incident that's been linked to truck weights," he said.
But in going through thousands of pages of the county's own records, the Problem Solvers found a single crucial page about an accident at a landfill involving an overweight truck.
A Solid Waste driver rolled a truck while turning on the unimproved roads. The document shows the truck was more than 3,000 pounds overweight. The county says weight wasn't the issue; the driver was driving too fast.
Dantzler says instead of fixing the problem by installing scales, the county always blames the drivers.
"I don't have any idea why they won't fix it. It's not expensive," he said. They absolutely refuse. They always have."
But Solid Waste maintains installing temporary scales at aging transfer stations isn't feasible. Instead, they're re-building the old stations.
"So that will be the ultimate solution," said Kiernan.
But that solution will also take years.
"It's going to catch up with us. It will happen," said Dantzler. And the drivers continue to pray that they can beat the odds.
As for the ombudsman's investigation and Solid Waste's initial response, council member Larry Phillips says it is not "close to what it needs to be."
And he promises that if Solid Waste doesn't take care of lowering the trucks' weight and stop breaking state laws on its own, the King County Council will do it for them.
A KOMO News investigation revealed the situation last April, but drivers insist the county's done little to fix it. And KOMO News has obtained new evidence of the dangerous nature of overweight loads.
Dan Dantzler drives one of King County Solid Waste's big semi trucks. He loves his job, but worries about what our investigation revealed after digging through county records: over the past three years, Solid Waste had more than 19,000 truck make trips with loads over the legal weight limit.
"It shouldn't take one dead person before somebody's gonna try to fix the problem," Dantzler said.
John Arsenian has been driving big trucks for more than 50 years. His thoughts on the overweight trucks?
"It's criminal as far as I'm concerned," he said.
Drivers say it's not just illegal but also dangerous because heavier trucks can't stop as quickly.
"And if there's anything that happens, whether it's your fault or not, you can't stop that rig and the outcome is going to be bad," said Dantzler.
Prompted by the Problem Solver investigation, King County Councilman Larry Phillips asked the county ombudsman to investigate.
"This is a great example of our employees having the courage to step up, to blow the whistle, and say, Listen, this isn't right. We've got to change things," Phillips said.
But King County Solid Waste told KOMO News and the King County Ombudsman's Office, that trucks that weigh more than the state limit are still safe to drive, according to the manufacturer.
"We're comfortable that we're operating a safe system," said director Kevin Kiernan said.
But there's new evidence that highlights the dangers of overweight loads. The federal Department of Transportation examined thousands of large truck crashes across the country. In one out of five crashes involving overloaded trucks, the review found, the extra weight was cited to have been the likely cause of the crash.
The findings are no surprise to the county's drivers.
"No, it's not safe," said Dantzler.
The findings are also no surprise to the Washington State Patrol.
"It's very dangerous for everybody, not just for the drivers (but also) for the motoring public," said code enforcement officer Kevin Valentine.
But Solid Waste director Kevin Kiernan says, "I can speak to our record."
He insists Solid Waste operates safely, even with illegally overweight trucks.
"As far back as our database goes, which is 1992, we haven't had an incident that's been linked to truck weights," he said.
But in going through thousands of pages of the county's own records, the Problem Solvers found a single crucial page about an accident at a landfill involving an overweight truck.
A Solid Waste driver rolled a truck while turning on the unimproved roads. The document shows the truck was more than 3,000 pounds overweight. The county says weight wasn't the issue; the driver was driving too fast.
Dantzler says instead of fixing the problem by installing scales, the county always blames the drivers.
"I don't have any idea why they won't fix it. It's not expensive," he said. They absolutely refuse. They always have."
But Solid Waste maintains installing temporary scales at aging transfer stations isn't feasible. Instead, they're re-building the old stations.
"So that will be the ultimate solution," said Kiernan.
But that solution will also take years.
"It's going to catch up with us. It will happen," said Dantzler. And the drivers continue to pray that they can beat the odds.
As for the ombudsman's investigation and Solid Waste's initial response, council member Larry Phillips says it is not "close to what it needs to be."
And he promises that if Solid Waste doesn't take care of lowering the trucks' weight and stop breaking state laws on its own, the King County Council will do it for them.
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