Unsafe truck, bus drivers on the road

Operators with disabilities called a major hazard by U.S. study

Associated Press

July 22, 2008

WASHINGTON - Tractor-trailer and bus drivers in the United States have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious spells behind the wheel that led to deadly crashes on highways. Hundreds of thousands of drivers carry commercial licenses even though they also qualify for full federal disability payments, according to a new U.S. safety study obtained by the Associated Press.

The problems threatening highway travelers persist despite years of government warnings and hundreds of deaths and injuries blamed on commercial truck and bus drivers who blacked out, collapsed or suffered major health problems behind the wheels of vehicles that can weigh 40 tons or more.

The U.S. agency responsible for cracking down on unfit truckers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, acknowledges it hasn't completed any of eight recommendations that U.S. safety regulators have proposed since 2001. One would set minimum standards for officials who determine whether truckers are medically safe to drive. Another would prevent truckers from "doctor shopping" to find a physician who might overlook a risky health condition. It is unclear whether any of the eight recommendations will be carried out before President Bush leaves office.

"We have a major public safety problem, and we haven't corrected it," said Gerald Donaldson, senior research director at the Washington-based Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, whose members include consumer, health and safety groups and insurance companies. "You have an agency that is favorably disposed to maintaining the integrity of the industry's economic situation."

Truckers violating federal medical rules have been caught in every state, according to a review by the AP of 7.3 million commercial driver violations compiled by the Transportation Department in 2006, the latest data available. Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, New Jersey, Minnesota and Ohio were states where drivers were sanctioned most frequently for breaking medical rules, such as failing to carry a valid medical certificate. Those 12 states accounted for half of all such violations in the United States.

Consider these cases:

•A Florida bus driver who suffers from lung disease and uses three daily inhalers to control breathing told congressional investigators that he "occasionally blacks out and forgets things." He works as a substitute driver despite not having a medical certificate, and his commercial license expires in 2010. The driver, who was not identified but will figure prominently in a congressional hearing this week, has collected Social Security benefits since 1994. He confided to investigators that he "gets winded" walking to his mailbox but has no problem driving a passenger bus.

•A Virginia trucker with a prosthetic leg from a farm accident more than 10 years ago is permitted to drive tanker trucks until at least 2012, even though he doesn't have the proper federal paperwork required for amputees. Virginia revoked the medical license for the official who approved him to drive over charges the official was caught illegally distributing controlled substances.

•A gasoline tanker plunged from an overpass and exploded in flames on Interstate 95 near Baltimore in January 2004, killing four people. Witnesses reported that the driver slumped over the wheel. Maryland investigators concluded that the driver, Jackie M. Frost, had suffered a heart attack or other medical emergency, but his family disputed that.

•The driver of a 15-passenger "Tippy Toes" day-care bus traveling 63 mph on Interstate 240 in Memphis, Tenn., in April 2002 crashed into a bridge, killing the driver and four of the six children aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board said the driver, Wesley B. Hudson, 27, fell asleep, "quite likely due to an undiagnosed sleep disorder." Investigators said children sometimes had to wake up Hudson, whom the NTSB described as obese and a marijuana user.

Some truckers said the government should enforce existing rules, not make new ones.

"Do you enjoy your clothing and house? Without the truck driver you would have none of it," said Gary Hull, 52, a trucker for a Louisiana company, as he drove from Edinburg, Texas, to Mansfield, La. "Our economy is based on the truck. People don't understand the ramifications of making it more restrictive for truck drivers to drive."

Hull said most drivers are hard workers who earn a modest salary and cope with rising diesel prices. New regulations could add to costs and force truckers to evade the rules, he said.

"There are enough government regulations as it is," agreed Ken Cornell, interviewed at a truck stop. "The medical profession should be able to take care of it. If they have a condition where they shouldn't be driving, they should be able to catch them."