​PrePass® Ensures Continued Bypass Reliability with New Sites

PHOENIX, AZ… There’s a saying that if you build it, they will come. In the world of weigh station bypassing, if you build the system right, states will ask you to build more – especially with a system proven to have 99.9% reliability. For over two decades, safe carriers have benefited through PrePass electronic pre-screening and weigh station bypasses in 32 states.

Weigh in motion scales (WIMs) integrated with bypass technology provide a benefit to carriers by screening truck weights so that compliant vehicles don’t have to pull into a scale facility to be weighed. HELP Inc., provider of PrePass, is integrating its bypass technology with new WIM scales at three PrePass-equipped weigh stations. This is in addition to approval earlier this year for HELP funded WIMs at 12 other PrePass sites.

HELP provides PrePass free-of-charge to each state that can project gains in weigh station safety and efficiency for both the trucking industry and compliance agencies. The new WIM sites are in Michigan, Ohio and Texas. In addition, ten new PrePass sites that also include WIMs are nearly complete and will provide additional bypass opportunities soon in California, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

For more than two decades, PrePass has kept hundreds of thousands of trucks moving at highway speeds while enabling enforcement agencies to focus their resources on higher-risk trucks and carriers. What makes it all work so well is an unparalleled partnership between industry leaders, carriers, state transportation officials and law enforcement embodied in the non-profit, HELP Inc. Its public and private Board provides a unique approach to the development of sound public policy that benefits both carriers and enforcement.

When HELP was formally established in 1993, its leaders recognized the need for additional weigh station technology to provide bypass efficiencies for carriers. HELP developed PrePass to allow safety-qualified fleets to bypass, saving them time and money. As a non-profit, HELP reinvests all its revenues after operating costs are paid to upgrade facility equipment and add new sites.

The Board’s decision to purchase and install WIM scales at all new PrePass sites is an effort to help state’s monitor truck weights and minimize infrastructure damage. The only technology that accurately and consistently correlates WIM readings with specific vehicles is HELP’s transponder-based system.

“HELP continues to utilize transponder technology for PrePass versus cellular technology because the transponder works every time,” said Steve Vaughn, HELP’s National Director of Field Operations and former Chief of the California Highway Patrol. “Transponders eliminate problems with in-cab mobile device and tablet use, cellular network deficiencies and disruptions from competing applications. They also provide the industry’s easiest-to-use driver system, minimizing the possibility of distraction and conflicting or missing signals,” Vaughn said.

More than 550,000 qualified trucks from over 48,000 fleets are enrolled in PrePass and qualified to bypass hundreds of weigh stations in 32 states. Fleets of all sizes with good safety scores can participate in PrePass. Fleets can determine their prequalification for PrePass by visiting www.prepass.com.