Grant to help Lombard ramp up truck enforcement

As a community bordered by I-355 and I-88 and bisected by several state highways, Lombard sees a lot of truck traffic.

Those trucks will be under closer watch beginning April 1, when Lombard police start using $13,000 in state grant money toward extra enforcement of speed and moving violations by commercial vehicles.

“I’m letting the truckers know — I tell them, April first, be on the lookout. Watch their speed, watch moving violations,” truck enforcement officer Joe Menolascino said.

The grant, provided by the Illinois Department of Transportation, will fund overtime for officers to focus on truck enforcement mainly during daylight hours between April 1 and June 30.

When applying for the grant, Lombard police provided statistics about the number of accidents involving trucks from 2007 to 2011. In that five-year span, the village saw 212 truck-involved accidents, a number Menolascino says is too high.

“We get 30 to 40 truck accidents a year. To me, that’s a lot,” he said. “We’re going to go out there this year and do some enforcement and hopefully we can reduce accidents.”

Menolascino said he heard about the grant from the Illinois Truck Enforcement Association, a Palatine-based group of police officers, trucking industry officials and lawyers who represent trucking companies. He said the Palatine and Addison police departments are among other suburban recipients of the grant to step up enforcement efforts.