Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/441527
36 | Overdrive | January 2015 SPEEDING? THINK AGAIN About 200 non-motor carrier en- forcement division locals work Indi- ana's roads, tasked with focusing "on violations in your area known to cause crashes," says Utterback. These 200 offi cers, he says, "actively look for a violation to make the stop and conduct a Level 3 inspection along with that." A Level 3 addresses only driver creden- tials, including license, logs and medical certifi cation, among other records. Nearly 80 percent of Indiana's over- all inspections are taking place far from fi xed weigh-station locations, a rate that has been fairly stable since 2011. Nationwide, 59 percent of overall inspections are done outside of fi xed weigh stations. Also unlike in Oregon, as we reported in part in the August CSA's Fallout install- ment, in Indiana it's common practice to mark moving violations on inspection reports without an attendant citation. Citations can be challenged in court. Following the change in federal policy on adjudicated citations this summer, now, if the court challenge goes in the driver's or carrier's favor, associated violations get removed from the offi cial record in the CSA SMS and in driver Pre-Employ- ment Screening Program records. The sheer volume of moving viola- tions issued in Indiana means drivers are nowhere more likely to get stuck with what amounts to a warning on a traffi c stop – no fi ne, no ticket. But it also means a greater likelihood of inspection, and no simple way to get a violation out of their federal safety record. For more on the state's enforcement practices, search "States move on driver violations" at OverdriveOnline.com. PERCENTAGE OF MOVING VIOLATIONS 30.7 26.1 29.2 8.3 8.3 8.4 2011 2012 2013 Indiana National average INSPECTIONS PER LANE-MILE: 6.7 NATIONAL AVERAGE: 5.6 VIOLATIONS PER INSPECTION: 1.8 NATIONAL AVERAGE: 1.6 Indiana's violations-per-inspection number has risen in each of the past two years to 1.8, just above the national average. Analysis of the state's inspection statistics show the state streamlining its approach to truck enforcement, with a drop in overall inspections between 2011 and 2012 by nearly a third. However, 2013 saw a slight rise in Indiana's inspection numbers, even as it fell to ninth place when ranking the concentration of inspections. The state conducts 6.7 inspections for every lane-mile of National Highway System in its borders. INDIANA Violation category Maintenance Lights Brakes Tires Moving violations Hours of service Percentage of all violations 45.1% 10.1% 12.4% 3.4% 29.2% 15.1% National rank 48 46 31 44 1 13 Source: Unless otherwise noted, all numbers based on 2013 federal data analyzed by RigDig Business Intelligence (rigdig.com/bi) VIOLATION PROFILE The American Transportation Re- search Institute's summer 2014 report on enforcement disparities across the nation singled out Indiana's speeding-violation propensity. While only 6.7 percent of crashes across the state in 2011 were marked for speeding as a primary causation factor, the report noted 78 percent of all violations associated with traffi c enforcement actions the same year were for speeding: "Indiana CMV en- forcement personnel should consider redistributing emphasis from speed- ing violations to other behaviors," the report recommended. SPEEDING FOCUS DRAWS CRITICISM INDIANA'S VANISHING CLEAN INSPECTIONS When Elvin Hilton received no violations during an inspection at the West Harrison, Ind., scale house on I-74 last year, he joined a shrink- ing minority in Indiana, which ranks No. 5 nationwide for the smallest percentage of clean inspections. In 2013, just shy of 20 percent of inspections was recorded totally violation-free, well below the 25 percent recorded in 2012. The national average is 40 percent. Hilton, a driver with Cowan Systems-leased small fl eet Two Danes Enter- prises, primarily hauls containers out of his Cincinnati home base, passing the scale often. Todd Dills