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Until recently, driving a truck in Indiana with bad teeth could get you forced off the road and possibly out of work, a trade group alleges.
The Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association, which says it represents 160,000 independent owner-operators and professional truck drivers, has been battling against something called the Fatigued Driving Evaluation Checklist.
The checklist is a survey state troopers in Minnesota and Indiana were using to determine whether a trucker is fatigued.
It sparked controversy across the country as a satellite radio station dedicated to truckers aired a four-part series on the issue in April, with truckers saying the list unfairly punishes them for things that have nothing to do with fatigued driving.
The Indiana version of the checklist asks whether truckers have a TV in their cab, whether their truck is dirty, whether they have acid reflux, have adult materials in their cab or sleeper and whether they need dental work.
In Minnesota, where the checklist originated, the checklist asks whether the trucker has a cell phone, is unshaven, has financial troubles and for the trucker’s neck size.
"This is way too subjective," said Joe Rajkovacz, the association’s regulatory affairs specialist and a former law enforcement officer. "When I was a cop, if I’d have done this I’d have been on the receiving end of a federal civil rights lawsuit."
The association filed just such a suit in federal court in Minnesota on May 13.
"It’s unconscionable that in a free society, that just because I choose to read adult materials – constitutionally protected materials – that I can lose my livelihood," Rajkovacz said.
For many drivers, an Out Of Service order, which prohibits them from driving, will get them fired, association officials confirmed.
But Indiana officials, who recently stopped using the checklist after the controversy erupted nationally, said the list itself is not used to determine fatigue, only whether a trooper should be looking for signs of fatigue.
"This whole thing’s been blown out of proportion in my opinion," said Sgt. Wayne Flick, of the Indiana State Police’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division. "All it is, is a checklist you can keep in your car."
After speaking to a driver, Flick explained that troopers can return to their vehicle, look over the list and then decide whether to investigate the possibility of fatigue.
"It’s just like with a DUI – just because you clock a car speeding, it doesn’t mean they’re drinking," Flick said. "But if he also fails to use a turn signal, fails to dim his lights and makes a wide turn, the probability increases. … It just determines (whether) you look into it and find out."
Rajkovacz said drivers in Minnesota have been pulled over an hour after a good night’s rest and been put Out Of Service because of the fatigue checklist. Truckers also complain that the questions appear impossible to answer correctly, because the checklist asks whether the driver is "irritable," but another asks whether they are "overly agreeable."
"None of these jurisdictions will tell us how many check marks is a pass or fail," Rajkovacz said. "This is depriving people of their liberty, when there’s not a single person out there driving a truck that’s not going to end up with tons of these boxes checked off."
The checklist was created by Capt. Ken Urquhart, commander of the Minnesota State Police’s Commercial Enforcement Division. Urquhart offers an hour-long audio seminar for $75 on how to use the checklist.
Indiana State Police Maj. Thomas Melville told the satellite radio program "Land Line Now" that troopers stopped using the checklist because of the controversy it caused.
"Well, the state of Indiana and Minnesota took quite a beating over the past two or three months over some of the terminology that was on the checklist. So Indiana chose to just disregard using the checklist," Melville said, according to a transcript of the program. "We are still doing fatigued-driving enforcement, and we will continue to do that. But we just chose not to use the checklist."
He went on to say that the "beating" was from independent operators; that when the checklist was explained to trucking companies, they didn’t object.
"But the independent truck drivers did," Melville said. "So, we thought it was in the best interest just to disregard the checklist and continue enforcement."
Flick said the checklist was in use in Indiana for only eight or nine months but wasn’t sure when its use started or ended.
In April 2006, four Taylor University students and a staff member were killed when truck driver Robert F. Spencer fell asleep at the wheel and collided with a Taylor van on Interstate 69 about 10 miles from the Upland campus.
Spencer served two years behind bars for reckless homicide and criminal recklessness; he had driven at least nine hours more than allowed according to federal rules.
A 2006 federal study of crashes involving large trucks showed that of the factors associated with crashes, fatigue ranked 11th, behind prescription drug use, driving too fast for conditions, unfamiliarity with the road, brake problems, traffic backups, weather and five other factors.
