From a quick glance, the veteran traffic officer could tell the likely destination of each rig, which semis were riding heavy, which loads had shifted and which trucks were belching too much exhaust. He's spent much of his 23-year career policing these rigs and driving them in his off time.

No amount of experience, however, can tell Nesbit what is inside these multi-ton vehicles. Without special powers from the state or federal governments, local law enforcement officers have no authority to check the cargo of rigs cruising Lowcountry roads.

"Nobody knows what's in there," Nesbit said, nodding his buzz-cut head at a passing 18-wheeler. "What if that container was packed full of explosives? It could do a whole lot more damage than the Oklahoma bombing."

Thousands of commercial vehicles travel through the region daily, many hauling cargo to and from Charleston's waterfront, home to the fourth busiest container port in the nation. It is the job of the State Transport Police to patrol the roads and inspect these vehicles for problems. But state budget cuts have thinned their ranks in recent years, leaving fewer officers to monitor cargo traveling on South Carolina's roads.

That worries Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon, whose county ranked fourth in the state for commercial vehicle crashes in 2002, the latest year for which statistics are available. In the past few months, accidents involving trucks have claimed five lives in the region, deputies said.

Cannon sees the potential for catastrophic accidents involving hazardous materials and the possibility of terrorists using trucks to carry out strikes. He and others point to explosive-laden trucks used in the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the June 25,1996, Khobar Towers bombing that killed 19 American servicemen in Saudi Arabia.

"The potential is there for any of these accidents to be catastrophic ... just based on the contents of these various trucks. It's just happenstance," Cannon said. "Just because we haven't had one is no proof that we won't. ... You have to have people concentrating on that and developing a sense of what to look for."

For that purpose, Cannon set up a commercial vehicle enforcement unit last year. The unit, staffed full time by Nesbit and Deputy Scott Jackson, patrols the roads looking for truckers, bus drivers and other commercial drivers who speed, follow too closely or commit other traffic violations.

Cannon wants to expand the unit's powers to enable deputies to check cargo, inspect trucking logs and perform other duties that could tell authorities where these vehicles are coming from and what they are carrying. This would likely require a change in state law or a special agreement authorizing deputies to act on behalf of the State Transport Police.

Cannon said the move would augment the state's efforts, keep truckers on their toes and provide another layer of protection to the region.

"I think the sheriff is right on the target with his call for this needed change," said state Rep. Chip Limehouse, a Charleston Republican. "When it comes to stopping terrorism, it is not a job that is exclusive to state police, federal police or local police."

Despite such endorsements, the proposal likely won't have an easy ride. The State Transport Police doesn't appear to be interested in the concept and some truckers seem even less thrilled with the idea.

Col. Anna Amos, deputy director of the State Transport Police, said she welcomes help from local law enforcement agencies and is willing to work with them to improve enforcement, but state law gives her officers sole authority to conduct commercial vehicle inspections. She knows of no plans to change that.

"There may be a way for (deputies and local police) to do more, but at this point, we are not able to go to that level with them," she said.

The State Transport Police has had significant budget cuts in recent years, and the agency is down to 100 officers, about 30 less than it had four years ago, Amos said. Still, she thinks the department has sufficient numbers to meet its responsibilities.

Rick Todd, president of the S.C. Truckers Association, said he would oppose any effort to expand deputies' powers on the road beyond general traffic enforcement.

"You don't want Barney Fife enforcing truck laws," he said, referring to the bumbling deputy from "The Andy Griffith Show."

"You'll have these guys grinding commerce to a halt. You can't train these guys enough and if you do, you will be taking them away from what they were originally hired to do."

Todd said he fears that local law enforcement agencies would use their new powers to pick on truckers and drum up more money from traffic tickets.

"It could very easily be turned into a money hunt by a local law enforcement agency looking to raise revenue," he said. "They could find an out-of-jurisdiction truck and then pick on them. We've seen that type of home cooking before."

Cannon said such "superficial" complaints are designed to play on people's emotions and obscure a need for more enforcement that is easily demonstrated by recent accidents.

Those incidents include:

-- A July 6 crash in which a Mexican truck driver headed to Edisto Beach veered into oncoming traffic on S.C. Highway 174 and collided with another tractor-trailer. Both trucks exploded, killing 47-year-old Roger Seamster of Conway, and snarling traffic for hours.

-- A June 7 accident in which Maggie Brown, a 62-year-old North Charleston woman, was killed when an 18-wheeler slammed into her car from behind on Interstate 526, near the Rivers Avenue exit. Investigators say the truck was speeding, following too closely and carrying an overweight load.

-- A tractor trailer truck that veered off U.S. Highway 17 and flipped several times on June 9, killing driver Louis Doleman Jr., 60, of Moncks Corner and spilling about 20 gallons of diesel fuel.

-- A three-vehicle crash on March 26 that caused an 18-wheeler's gas tank to explode, engulfing the truck in flames and clogging traffic on Interstate 26 and U.S. Highway 78 for four hours.

Sheriff's Lt. Mikel Benton, a traffic division supervisor, said training deputies to check cargo and inspect documents would allow authorities to know much more quickly when they are dealing with a potentially hazardous situation. Trucks are required to have exterior placards identifying the types of hazardous materials on board, but some drivers neglect to keep them up to date, leaving authorities to guess at the contents, sheriff's officials said.

"We've had several accidents involving 18-wheelers where we've had to wait for the state to respond and that waiting has delayed opening the roadways for hours," he said. "Sometimes they have to come from I-95 or some other part of the state just to look at paperwork or documents."

The State Transport Police took about three hours to respond Tuesday when an unsecured trailer carrying hazardous material fell off a truck on Meeting Street Road, shutting down the route for several hours, deputies said.

Benton and Cannon said improving resources and safety-- not increasing revenues -- would be the goal behind training deputies to handle such work.

Nesbit and Jackson, the two commercial vehicle unit deputies, said they usually make 10 to 12 traffic stops per day, but many result in a warning rather than a ticket.

"The bottom line for this unit is safety," Jackson said.

Phil Byrd, president and CEO of Bulldog Hiway Express, a Charleston-based trucking company, applauded the sheriff's initiative. Last year, Byrd formed the Charleston Area Truck Safety Team, a coalition of Lowcountry trucking companies that runs patrols in an effort to improve highway safety and reverse negative perceptions of truckers.

Armed with clipboards and pens, trucking industry employees prowl area roads and highways documenting examples of their industry's driving habits, both good and bad. Confidential reports are shared only with the company whose driver was tailed. The hope is that the companies will commend or reprimand drivers based on the reports.

"The more eyes on the road the better to make sure the rules are being complied with," Byrd said. "The word is out there in trucking circles that you have to mind your Ps and Qs when you come into the Charleston area."

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