Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/757641
40 | Overdrive | December 2016 CSA's DATA TRAIL STANDOUT STATES Iowa Midwest muscle S hares of vehicle-related viola- tions in Iowa are falling, while shares in other violation catego- ries – hours, moving violations – are growing, says Chief David Lorenzen, head of the Motor Vehicle Enforcement division of the Iowa Department of Transportation. Lorenzen agrees that his state's viola- tion profi le in some senses refl ects broad national trends. A quick look at Iowa's violation profi le shown with this story, however, shows a somewhat outsized focus on the driver rather than the truck. That's no accident, Lorenzen suggests. In tandem with the Federal Motor Car- rier Safety Administration's directives to Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program funding recipients among states, Iowa had emphasized moving violations over the last decade or so. Then "the emphasis shifted [further] to the driver," Lorenzen says. That shift has shown up most dramatically in states where more Level 3 inspections have been a reality. (See "Stoking the log fi res," Overdrive July 2016.) Nationally, hours of service viola- tions rose to a high of 10 percent of all violations in 2014 after years of steady increases, and they remained more or less level in 2015. In Iowa, hours violation percentages continued to grow last year by a fraction of a point, though they've nearly doubled since 2012 with a con- current steep increase in the number of violations overall. Lorenzen says the increasing focus on the driver also stems from a growing use of screening technology at weigh stations – where Iowa conducts about half of its inspections – and at roadside via offi cers' laptops. All of the roughly 100 dedicated inspectors in Iowa are sworn law offi cers, splitting their time between fi xed locations and the road. Six of the state's 10 interstate-sys- tem weigh stations are equipped with PrePass' screening/sorting technology. Last year, the state instituted the com- pany's 360 SmartView at Dallas and Jasper, sites on either side of Des Moines on I-80. The system combines plate/ DOT number-reading cameras with other technologies to provide offi cers with advance information about not only Pre- Pass-equipped trucks but also every truck that approaches a weigh station. 18% 17% 16% 15% 14% 13% 12% 11% 10% 9% 8% 2012 2013 2014 2015 Hours violations as a share of all violations Iowa U.S. Iowa shows increasing violations per inspection, particularly for hours BY TODD DILLS