Thousands of large trucks are bypassing the inspection stations along Iowa’s interstate highways every day. They’re not however, part of some renegade 1970’s convoy truckin’ across the USA. Iowa Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Winfrey says the trucks get a rolling a high-tech inspection. The trucks carry a transponder that automatically checks to see if the trucks have been certified.You may notice the “PrePass” monitors as you drive interstates 80 and 35, they hang out on poles over the interstate and look like cameras.Winfrey says the system is a public/private partnership in which the state supplies the criteria for checking trucks, and the private firm signs up the truckers.He says the system keeps trucks on the road and saves drivers money as they don’t have to slow or stop for the inspection stations.Winfrey says some of the trucks with the “Prepass” system are randomly stopped to ensure that drivers that’ve been certified keep their trucks in compliance. He says 17 states nationwide are using the system.
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