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INDIANAPOLIS – Hoosiers looking for high-mileage transportation options could have another choice under legislation considered Wednesday to legalize imported minitrucks.
Rep. Dave Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, authored House Bill 1043 in response to several constituents who can’t get the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to license and title their minitrucks.
Minitrucks are foreign imports mostly from Japan that are made for roads but also have off-road capability, he said.
They are brought into the U.S. as agricultural, low-speed vehicles though they can go up to 60 mph. They also get 40 miles a gallon and have the steering wheel on the right side.
Wolkins said his bill would allow Hoosiers to drive minitrucks on state and local roads but not interstate highways, which have higher speed limits.
He said he is frustrated mostly because the BMV several years ago did license and title the minitrucks and then recently made an internal policy change and stopped.
Wolkins said at least 12 other states have now legalized the minitrucks, with some road and speed restrictions.
“They are safe little vehicles, safer than a motorcycle,” said Bob Ferguson of Leesburg, who testified before the House Roads and Transportation Committee.
He said the BMV initially licensed and titled his minitruck and has since changed its mind four times.
Sarah Meyer, legislative director for the BMV, said the minitrucks were being treated differently around the state depending on which branch they were brought to. So when an influx of interest hit last summer because of high gasoline prices, the agency made a policy change not to allow them on roads.
She said the BMV will title them as off-road vehicles, which allows owners to drive them on secondary roads in some Indiana counties.
Meyer said because the minitrucks are imported under an agriculture program, there is no evidence they meet federal motor vehicle or emission standards.
“We’re not sure they are safe to be on the road,” she said.
But Wolkins showed the committee pictures of other vehicles the BMV allows on the road that don’t meet federal safety standards, such as kit cars, sand buggies and some antique cars.
Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, chairman of the committee, held the bill so that more work can be done on the definition of minitruck. She doesn’t want it to include other vehicles such as golf carts or Gators, which are off-road vehicles used by farmers.
