INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- We all look out for police officers when we’re on the roads, and on Wednesday in Indiana they may not be so easy to spot.
Indiana State Police is partnering with Indiana Motor Truck Association to launch Trooper-in-a-Truck, a new initiative that places a trooper in a commercial motor vehicle operated by a highly trained and qualified CDL driver.
The trooper will observe for violations, while the truck driver drives the selected route. While no dangerous traffic violation will be ignored, the trooper-in-a-truck will be observing primarily for violations of Indiana’s hands-free law. Despite the fact the most recent version of this law, prohibiting the use of hand-held communication devices in all but emergency situations, has been in effect for over a year, distracted driving continues to be major problem on Indiana’s roadways.
"One of the big focuses of this is violations of Indiana's hands-free law. The educational component that we've done with this over the last few years, of course with the exception of 2020 because of the pandemic, is really educating motoring public and taking enforcement action on those actions that we see smaller vehicles doing around the big trucks all the time - cutting them off..." said Indiana State Police Captain Ron Galaviz.
Crashes involving large trucks are often high profile and may result in tragic consequences. While the statistics vary some, studies show that in crashes involving large trucks, it is more often the case in which it is the fault of the other vehicle. A large, heavy truck is far less maneuverable and takes substantially more distance to stop than a smaller vehicle. Unsafe, aggressive driving behaviors near a truck may lead to disastrous results.
"A lot of people forget that these big semi-tractor trailers cannot stop as quickly and they are not as maneuverable as our passenger vehicles and that makes it very dangerous. There's kind of a miss belief that these big trucks cause all theses horrific crashes when, in fact, a significant majority are caused by people driving in and around trucks..." Galaviz said.
Trooper in a Truck is happening in four regions, including Northwest Indiana.
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