Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/566087
Voices 10 | Overdrive | September 2015 The Indiana State Police and local partners are known for targeting truckers relative to the behavioral aspects of on-highway safety – no state devotes a larger share of its focus to ticket- ing and issuing warnings to drivers for moving-type violations. Officials in the northern part of the state in late June announced a weeklong Operation Truck Stop three-county enforcement effort during the July 4 holiday week along U.S. 20, a com- mon Indiana Toll Road alternate. Hauler Jeff Clark, based in Green Bay, Wis., speculated the effort was only a tactic to force truckers back into paying for the toll road. "So this is how Indiana tries to force us onto the turnpike?" he asked in a Facebook post when news broke of the enforcement. Results from Opera- tion Truck Stop in some ways underscored Clark's speculation, with many more citations and warn- ings issued than official inspections conducted. Reports cited 243 cita- tions and 289 warnings issued for traffic viola- tions, issued by mostly local authorities. The In- diana State Police, mean- while, conducted just 74 inspections in tandem with the effort, a drop in the bucket in Indiana's recent-years 70,000 or so annually conducted inspections. Effort targets off-toll-road trucks in Northern Indiana Far and away the most common choice in our presidential candi- date poll was real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Prior to the first televised debate of Republican candidates, we asked readers to name their preferred ridealong partner among prominent presi- dential hopefuls of both parties. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders garnered just three votes less than widely hailed front-runner Hillary Clinton, with some poll respondents offering kudos for his frank assessments of America's problems. Almost as common a choice, however – "none of the above" – was illustrated by Derry Nelson, commenting on Overdrive's Face- book page: "I do not see one candi- date worth voting for." Race 'Trumped' for readers Which of these presidential candidates would you most like to take on a ridealong in the truck? Donald Trump 45% Hillary Clinton 6.5% Bernie Sanders 6% None of these 5% Scott Walker 5% Other* 9% Rand Paul 3% Mike Huckabee 4% Joe Biden 4% Carly Fiorina 4% Ben Carson 4% Ted Cruz 4.5% Hot Buttons **Candidates/hoped-for candidates receiving less than 3 percent of the vote were not shown but included Elizabeth Warren, Chris Christie, Martin O'Malley, Marco Rubio, Jim Webb, Jeb Bush, Rick Perry and John Kasich. ELECTION 2016 ELECTION 2016 Todd Dills 2011 2012 2013 2014 Indiana annual inspections, 2011-'14 110,000 100,000 90,000 80,000 70,000 60,000