I believe most people think of rate cases and ratemaking when they think of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia.

However, the Commission staff and duties involve much more than rates.

Among the myriad of other natters in which we are involved, I want you to remember we are on the front line when it comes to the safety of commercial vehicles, what you call semis or tractor-trailers, and the like.

We also inspect buses, taxis and any number of other commercial vehicles, but I want to talk with you about our primary highway safety duties.

We have a dedicated force of officers in our Transportation Division who patrol the roads daily to ensure those big trucks are driving safely.

If we pull one over for a possible violation, our officers have the same authority as a regular police officer. But it has been our policy to call in the State Police when an actual arrest has to be made.

Because of a number of crashes lately involving tractor-trailers, we have increased our patrols and reached out to other branches of law enforcement to help protect you as driving members of the public.

Let me underline the hard work of this division.

Last year, they inspected 19,732 trucks, or 1,644 a month. They inspected another 381 buses. They issued 276 notices of violations.

These inspections evaluate the maintenance and running operations of the trucks they look into. But our officers are also vigilant about a range of other crimes, including drug trafficking and the recently growing peril involving human trafficking.

West Virginia is a natural bridge in the heartland of the East Coast, tying eastern middle America with the Midwest, South and the New York corridor. The number of commercial vehicles that pass through the Mountain State each day is staggering.

Last year, for example, the Turnpike Commission estimated 1.5 million vehicles would travel along the road during a 12-day period, including Christmas.

Our officers also patrol a special network of roads mostly in the southern coalfields that are known as the Coal Resource Transportation System (CRTS).

This division last year monitored 2.2 million transactions on this system and performed 800 CRTS site inspections.

The actions of our officers resulted in $2.4 million collected for the Division of Highways Transportation Fund.

I am quite proud of the operations of this division and the dedicated men and women who quietly go about their business of providing us with such a high quality of service.

(Lane is chair of the West Virginia Public Service Commission)