Relationships between troopers and truckers have always been kind of complicated. There are lots of various federal regulations and if they are violated, the driver is the one facing the consequences. So if truckers have some questions, they can be simply afraid to ask because they think they might get ticketed or be placed out of service. It makes it really hard to build good relationships. And wouldn’t it be really great to make these relationships work since both truckers and troopers spend most of their time on the road?
Brent Hoover, a trooper with the Indiana State Police, has thought about it too. And he has found a way to interact with truckers and help them with guidance and answering their questions. To do that, he has created a page on Facebook he has named “Hoover Club”.
Hoover created the page to tell the public (and truckers especially) about what DOT inspectors do. His goal is to interact with truckers and finally make these relationships work. Hoover posts pictures and videos showing various violations and other things that can be interesting for his target audience. On this page truckers can find interesting know-hows, photos of antic trucks, and of course, DOT guidelines. Facebook is a really great place for this kind of project as it lets truckers comment and ask their questions for Hoover to answer.
“Hoover Club” is a great opportunity to educate truckers about safety regulations and to improve their relationships with troopers.
A friend of mine is a trucker himself, and he pretty much describes his situation at times exactly the way this article does. I believe this ‘Hoover Club’ developed by the police trooper is a step in the right direction in promoting understanding and perhaps initiating comradeship, in a sense, among truckers and troopers/DOT officials. Kudos to him, and I’ll be sure to let my friend know about this.
My husband’s best friend works for the DOT and he often tells me stories about truckers and their sometimes blatant violations, even though the truckers themselves may be unaware of this. I always figured the problem was a lack of communication/knowledge between these people (and the police), so I kinda like the idea of a Facebook page put forth by that trooper. I’ll probably let my husband know about this so he could tell his buddy.
My brother out West knows a few truckers, and whenever I visit him, he’s always bringing them out and we hang together. I noticed that more often than not their conversations often revolve around how little they are respected by the mainstream (despite these guys being really cool and nice to be around with), and also how police and inspectors seem to get on their back about regulations and such that they aren’t even 100% aware of–basically, the problem presented in this writing. I think the guy that created the Facebook page started something positive towards everyone getting on the same page about proper and lawful directives and statutes. I hope this is only a start to something better.