Registration Violations and the Use of Optical Character Recognition Technology at Kentucky Weigh Stations

Abstract

Commercial vehicles represent 25-30% of the total traffic on urban and rural interstates in Kentucky, and this number continues to grow. While just over 500,000 commercial vehicles were registered in Kentucky in 1991, nearly 1,000,000 were registered in 1997. With commercial vehicles such a large part of our interstate traffic, careful monitoring of these vehicles is critical. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KyTC) has long seen the need to efficiently and effectively screen these vehicles to make the roadways safer. As a Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Network (CVISN) Model Deployment state, Kentucky is evaluating its current methods of monitoring commercial vehicles and looking at advanced technology for improvements. The objectives of this research project was two-fold. First, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KTC) investigated to determine if there were a significant number of registration violations or other license plate-related violations occurring at Kentucky weigh stations. A vehicle using an expired license plate, hauling an amount in excess of its registered weight, or traveling in Kentucky without the proper authority was considered to be in violation of its registration. Second, KTC investigated the potential effectiveness of using license plate recognition (LPR) technology to verify registration information at Kentucky weight stations.