Florida truck driver in jail until hefty fine is paid
A Florida truck driver might not have been placed in a Washington County jail cell this past weekend had he or his trucking company spent money on a global-positioning system designed specially for commercial drivers.
Francisco M. Amareles-Amareles, 58, of Hialeah, was jailed by District Judge David Mark until a $10,000 collateral is paid toward his $17,386.50 fine for driving an overweight truck on a road posted with a 10-ton weight limit. Mark also issued a temporary order of inoperability on the rig. It cannot be moved until the entire fine is paid. The collateral and/or fine has to be paid at Mark’s office.
Canonsburg police Officer Scott Bashioum, who is a motor carrier enforcement officer, was on patrol Saturday when he spotted the Florida driver making a left turn from Strabane Avenue onto West Pike Street, reportedly nearly hitting a vehicle stopped at the light. Bashioum said the truck driver started to make a right turn onto Bluff Street, but the officer put on his cruiser’s emergency lights and siren and stopped the rig.
“If he turned up there, we really would’ve been in trouble,” Bashioum said.
Amareles-Amareles was directed to drive his rig to a vacant parking lot on West Pike. Bashioum weighed the rig and determined it was 59,346 pounds overweight.
Bashioum said the Florida driver was relying on a regular GPS that can be bought for about $60 by any driver instead of the commercial GPS system that costs about 10 times more.
“It has been happening more and more that these drivers are using the $60 system,” Bashioum said. “The commercial GPS is programmed to keep truck or bus drivers off roads with 10-ton weight limits.”
Chartiers Township police have had to deal with the issue at least three times in the last several months as truck drivers following their global-positioning systems found themselves on rural roads not designed for tractor-trailer traffic.
Since the Florida man spoke in broken English, Bashioum said it was difficult to determine what route he had taken, but it appears he got off Interstate 79 at the Houston exit, then went up Boone Avenue and turned onto Strabane Avenue through the village of Strabane in North Strabane Township, before turning onto West Pike.
The driver was to deliver pipes and fittings to be used in the gas drilling industry to a company at 100 Alpine Drive in Southpointe in Cecil Township. Bashioum said it appears the GPS was taking the driver to 100 Alpine in a residential neighborhood in the borough.
Amareles-Amareles remained in jail Monday afternoon. A representative of the trucking company called Mark’s office just before noon Monday and was told that $10,000 in cash had to be paid to get the Florida driver out of jail and the entire amount paid to secure the release of the rig and its load.
A hearing on the charge is set for Wednesday before Mark.