Big Trucks Causing More Deaths and Injuries

July 2008

Jul 25 2008 UPDATE –A recent study by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has revealed that there are few controls over how commercial truck drivers obtain medical certificates. Many truckers, some of whom suffer from illnesses involving heart attacks, seizures or unconscious spells, carry fake medical certificates required to operate trucks on the road.

Based on a sample of 614 medical certificates obtained from truck drivers at roadside inspections in California, Illinois and Ohio, the committee was only able to verify that 407 of those certificates were valid. Because there is no database allowing state officials to confirm the legality of a medical certificate, drivers can easily bypass the physical examination requirements and acquire fake certificates.

Recommendations made approximately seven years ago by the committee and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to keep medically unfit drivers off the road have not yet been fully implemented by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The NTSB made the recommendations in 2001 after a 1999 motorcoach accident in New Orleans killed 22 people. The truck driver responsible for the accident held a valid license and medical certificate, despite suffering from life-threatening kidney and heart conditions.

Jul 21 2008 ORIGINAL ALERT –Despite years of federal warnings and thousands of deaths and injuries, unfit truckers and bus drivers continue to endanger the lives of others on the road. A new study has found that hundreds of thousands of truck and bus drivers who suffer from disabilities involving seizures, heart attacks, or unconscious spells carry commercial driver's licenses.

According to the Transportation Department, 5,300 people died in accidents involving commercial trucks or buses in 2006, and 126,000 people suffered injuries. The principal causes of severe crashes were incidents where the drivers fell asleep, suffered heart attacks or seizures, or were physically impaired in other ways.

Contributing to this problem is the fact that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is in charge of monitoring unfit drivers, has failed to complete any of the eight safety suggestions proposed by U.S. regulators in 2001. Truckers have violated government medical rules in all states, most frequently in Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, New Jersey, Minnesota and Ohio. Sanctioned drivers in these states account for half of all medical violations nationwide.