Police: Better GPS Could Have Kept Florida Trucker Out Of Jail
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CANONSBURG, Pa. (CBSMiami/AP) — A trucker, from Hialeah, is locked up in western Pennsylvania because he can't pay $10,000 collateral on a $17,386 fine for driving a 40-ton truck on a road with a 10-ton limit.
Police say Francisco Amareles-Amareles, hauling a gas drilling pipe, might have avoided the situation if he had just bought a better global positioning system device that would have alerted him to the weight limit.
Amareles-Amareles was arrested Saturday after police saw him drive his 40-ton rig onto a narrow road with a 10-ton limit.
Because the driver spoke broken English, police couldn't be sure what he was trying to do. But they believe he mistook Alpine Street in Canonsburg for Alpine Drive, a rural road in Cecil Township.
A local district judge refused to release the driver unless he posted $10,000 to secure his appearance at a Wednesday hearing on the $17,386.50 fine. The judge also issued an order impounding the truck until the whole fine is paid.
Canonsburg police Officer Scott Bashioum told The Associated Press that Amareles-Amareles was driving for A. J. Logistics Transport Inc., of Concord, North Carolina. Calls to the company were not immediately returned Tuesday.
Court records don't list a defense attorney for the driver.
Bashioum said drivers using a commonly available $60 GPS system instead of a commercial system costing about $600 are winding up on low-limit roads that the more expensive system would alert them to avoid.
"The commercial GPS is programmed to keep truck or bus drivers off roads with 10-ton weight limits," Bashioum told the (Washington) Observer-Reporter, which first reported the arrest Tuesday.
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