Commercial Vehicle Services - Electronic screening
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Electronic screening
Source: WSDOT Commercial Vehicle Services Office
Note: A truck's transponder or license plate is read each time it nears a weigh station. WSDOT assumes five minutes, 0.55 gallons of fuel and $8.68 in operating costs saved per bypass, based on a 2007 report. Based on these assumptions, each bypass provided an average economic benefit of $10.08 in 2020, $10.49 in 2021, $11.42 in 2022 and $11.00 in 2023. Out of the more than 6.7 million commercial vehicles that were identified and electronically screened by Washinton State Patrol in 2023, over one million potential violations were identified.
WSDOT's electronic screening assesses commercial vehicles in motion
WSDOT's electronic screening system uses technology along state highways to examine commercial vehicles for violations while they are in motion. This helps the Washington State Patrol target their enforcement efforts on high-risk carriers
Limiting the number of vehicles pulling into weigh stations to primarily high-risk carriers increases the likelihood of WSP locating vehicles that need to be removed from service. It also saves both time and money for safe and legal carriers who are required to stop less frequently.
Performance analysis
2023
Weigh station e-screening provides $36.9 million in economic benefit in 2023
Weigh station bypasses (green lights) created $36.9 million in economic benefit in 2023—a 4.8% increase from $35.2 million in 2022—by helping commercial vehicle drivers avoid an estimated 280,000 hours of travel time and an estimated 1.8 million gallons of diesel fuel. On average, each bypass saved freight carriers five minutes and approximately $11.00 in operating and fuel costs by allowing truck drivers to keep traveling at highway speeds instead of pulling off the highway to stop at weigh stations. The amount of diesel that was not used as a result prevented approximately 41.5 million pounds of CO2 emissions statewide.
WSDOT's electronic screening system processed over 6.5 million commercial trucks and directed those equipped with a transponder or identified by license plate to bypass open weigh stations 3.36 million times in 2023. This was 9.1% more than the 3.08 million green lights given in 2022.
Since 2019, the number of green lights has increased 82.6% from approximately 1.84 million to 3.36 million. During this five-year period, the amount of time saved trended up 83.0% from approximately 153,000 hours to 280,000 hours while the economic benefit increased 94.2% from 19.0 million in 2019 to $36.9 million in 2023.
2022
Weigh station e-screening provides $35.2 million in economic benefit in 2022
Weigh station bypasses created $35.2 million in economic benefit in 2022 by helping commercial vehicle drivers avoid an estimated 230,000 hours of travel time and an estimated 1.7 million gallons of diesel fuel. On average, each bypass saved freight carriers five minutes and approximately $11.42 in operating and fuel costs by allowing truck drivers to keep traveling at highway speeds instead of pulling off the highway to stop at weigh stations. The amount of diesel saved helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions statewide by approximately 38.1 million pounds in 2022.
WSDOT's electronic screening system processed over 5.8 million commercial trucks and directed those equipped with a transponder or identified by license plate to bypass open weigh stations over 3.1 million times in 2022. This was about 12% more than the 2.7 million green lights given in 2021.
2021
Weigh station e-screening provides $28.9 million in economic benefit in 2021
Weigh station bypasses created $28.9 million in economic benefit in 2021 by helping commercial vehicle drivers avoid an estimated 230,000 hours of travel time and an estimated 1.5 million gallons of diesel fuel. On average, each bypass saved freight carriers five minutes and approximately $10.49 in operating and fuel costs by allowing truck drivers to keep traveling at highway speeds instead of pulling off the highway to stop at weigh stations. The amount of diesel saved cut carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 34.1 million pounds in 2021.
WSDOT's Electronic Screening System screened over 5.5 million commercial trucks and directed commercial trucks equipped with a transponder or identified by license plate to bypass open weigh stations over 2.7 million times in 2021. This was about 5% more than the 2.6 million green lights given in 2020.
2020
Weigh station bypasses provide approximately $24.7 million in economic benefit in 2020
Weigh station bypasses created roughly $24.7 million in economic benefits in 2020 by saving an estimated 204,000 hours of travel time and an estimated 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel. On average, each bypass saved freight carriers five minutes and $10.08 in operating and fuel costs by allowing truck drivers to keep traveling at highway speeds instead of pulling off the highway to stop at weigh stations. The amount of diesel saved cut carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 30.2 million pounds in 2020.
WSDOT's Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks program gave commercial trucks equipped with transponders the green light to bypass open weigh stations over 2.4 million times in 2020. This was about 33% more than the 1.8 million green lights given in 2019.
2019
Weigh station bypasses provide approximately $19 million in economic benefit in 2019
Weigh station bypasses (green lights) created roughly $19 million in economic benefit in 2019 by saving an estimated 153,000 hours of travel time and anestimated one million gallons of diesel fuel. On average, each green light/bypass saved carriers five minutes and $10.36 in operating and fuel costs. The reduced diesel usage from the bypasses cut carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 22.7 million pounds in 2019.
WSDOT's Innovative Technology Deployment program gave commercial trucks equipped with transponders the green light to bypass open weigh stations approximately 1.8 million times in 2019. This was about 9% fewer than the two million green lights given in 2018.