Why not use trains?

The Oregon State Patrol is in the midst of its 10th Operation Trucker Check (they really need to contact the military for better operation names), which runs May 23-25 at the Ashland, Ore., port of entry, according to a patrol press release.

The operation boils down to a team of officers and inspectors cracking down on driver impairment (aka drug use (including alcohol - I don't know why people insist on saying drugs AND alcohol) and fatigue) and vehicle safety.

Why do it? The patrol says it is concerned with an increase in commercial vehicle wrecks in southern Oregon. The patrol goes on to cite a bunch of irrelevant statisticsfrom the state Motor Carrier Transportation Division, one of which is genuinely interesting:

"During inspections, critical safety violations were found in 24.3% of the vehicles and 8.6% of drivers."

According to the patrol, a similar operation a year ago at the port of entry in Woodburn (Christ, entry from where? That's like having a U.S.-Mexico border crossing in Oklahoma) took out of service 32 trucks and 52 drivers out of "more than 400" inspections. That's not too good, but only three of the 52 drivers were zapped for drugs (including alcohol).

So, whatever. But the best/worst/best again part of the operation is this yipyap from the Beaver State's governor:

"With the increasing truck traffic on our roads, it is in the interests of all Oregonians that we do all we can to ensure that truck drivers are able to operate safely," blabbed Gov. Ted Kulongoski in an obviously prepared statement. "This is another reason I am so committed to increasing the number of Oregon State troopers on our roads. More trucks require more troopers. More troopers will deliver more safety."

Hmmm. Besides the doubletalk and the failure to show truck traffic is really increasing, how about this novel approach: trains!