DMV outlines commercial-vehicle enforcement, smart-roadside pilots and staffing limits
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Summary
Department of Motor Vehicles enforcement leaders told a joint Senate and House transportation hearing that recent smart‑roadside and weigh‑in‑motion installations are improving carrier screening but that staffing and maintenance funding limit wider rollout; lawmakers asked for 10‑year enforcement and staffing data.
Ben Shilp, lieutenant for the Northeast Sector of the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement and Safety Division, told the Senate and House transportation committees that the department’s commercial‑vehicle enforcement (CVE) unit handled roughly 15,600 cases in 2025 and operates about 22 sworn officers and two civilian inspectors covering the state.
Shilp said the DMV completed nearly 10,000 inspections last year and about 1,300 passenger‑vehicle stops; the state recorded roughly 442 commercial motor vehicle crashes in 2025, 157 of which were reportable to the Federal Motor Carrier system. “That system does does many things, but, basically, what it does is it takes pictures of, USDOT numbers whenever a vehicle goes by so that we can identify a company before they get to our veil,” Shilp said, describing recently installed “smart roadside” posts from the vendor Fleetwood and weigh‑in‑motion strips that detect tire anomalies and capture vehicle weight data.
Shilp and other DMV witnesses said the technology speeds inspections and helps target carriers with poor safety scores, and that weigh‑in‑motion data helps the state meet Federal Highway reporting responsibilities tied to federal maintenance funding. He said the program is still early and expanding it is constrained by ongoing maintenance costs that would likely require state funds, while purchases themselves are typically supported by federal grants.
Committee members asked whether the smart‑roadside units could be placed at every interstate entry; Shilp said the goal would be broader deployment but emphasized maintenance and ongoing operating costs are the limiting factors. Members also asked for maps of high‑crash corridors and the DMV agreed to provide the crash maps produced in partnership with the University of Massachusetts.
Why it matters: Lawmakers said they want to pair technology investments with a clearer picture of staffing and long‑term cost obligations. The committee directed staff to obtain 10‑year comparisons of enforcement activity and to follow up on how federal funding and maintenance liabilities affect the ability to expand smart‑roadside infrastructure.
Next steps: DMV agreed to supply the committee with the high‑crash corridor data and to work with the committee on the requested multi‑year enforcement statistics and staffing information.