The Associated Press: Medically unfit truck drivers still on roads

Medically unfit truck drivers still on roads

By HOPE YEN and FRANK BASS

7-17-2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer and bus
drivers in the United States carry commercial driver's licenses
despite also qualifying for full federal disability payments, and some
of those drivers have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious
spells, 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.

"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.

_George Albright Jr., 61, smashed his 70,000-pound tractor-trailer
into congested traffic on Interstate 70 in June 2006, killing four
women in a Ford sedan about 30 miles east of Columbia, Mo. Albright's
employer agreed earlier this year to pay $18 million in a settlement.
A Missouri jury acquitted Albright this month on four counts of
second-degree involuntary manslaughter, after his lawyers argued in
court that a diabetic episode "put him in an altered state of
consciousness." Albright wasn't injured.

_A gasoline tanker plunged from an overpass and exploded in flames on
Interstate 95 near Baltimore in January 2004, killing four people.
Witnesses reported the driver slumped over the wheel. Maryland
investigators concluded 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.

_A 55-passenger bus rolled off Interstate 610 in New Orleans in May
1999, killing 22 passengers. The NTSB said the bus driver, Frank
Bedell, 46, suffered life-threatening kidney and heart conditions but
held a valid license and medical certificate. Moments before the
crash, a passenger recounted seeing the driver slumped in his seat.
Bedell died three months later of an apparent heart-related illness.
Investigators said he was treated at least 20 times in the 21 months
before the accident for various ailments.

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."

[As if this tired old platitude somehow justifies allowing medically
unfit drivers to continue killing innocent people. This brilliant
"Trucker Logic" must be what they teach at the GPSTroll Graduate
School...]

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.

[I guess getting a better job just isn't an option for these losers?]

The Transportation Department said 5,300 people died in crashes
involving large commercial trucks or buses in 2006, the latest year
for which figures are available, and about 126,000 more were injured.
A federal safety study last summer found that cases where drivers fell
asleep, suffered heart attacks or seizures or otherwise were
physically impaired were a leading cause of serious crashes involving
large trucks. But those cases included healthy drivers who fell
asleep.

[Red Bull and/or Speed can only do so much.]

"The problem is major. It's one of the biggest causes of occupational
death in the United States today," said Dr. Kurt Hegmann, chairman of
the FMCSA's medical oversight board, which is urging more doctor
visits in many cases for truckers with serious medical conditions.

Families of crash victims said stronger safety rules can't happen soon
enough.

William Hieronymus II of Salina, Kan., said he remembers eating cereal
each morning with his 10-month-old son. His son William and wife,
Amanda, died in May 2005 when a truck crossed a median and struck
their SUV.

The driver, Scott A. Wegrzyn, pleaded guilty to two counts of
vehicular homicide. Prosecutors said Wegrzyn knew he suffered from
sleep apnea and went to a second doctor without disclosing the
condition to obtain the medical certification he needed to drive.
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Well, here we go again, folks. Just one more hoop we have to jump through to keep our jobs.

How about mandatory drug testing for car drivers while they are at it?