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Do a better job of screening of drivers' medical conditions
Thursday, January 20, 2000
Few experiences are more intimidating than driving your subcompact on the winding, hilly, narrow stretches of the Pennsylvania Turnpike surrounded by big rigs barreling ahead. The trucks weigh many times as much as a passenger car and often their drivers are working on a tight deadline with modest amounts of sleep.
According to a special report by Post-Gazette Staff Writer Steve Twedt, there is another reason for concern: the potential health problems of the truckers.
The U.S. Department of Transportation requires drivers to undergo physical evaluations every two years to ensure they meet all the health guidelines needed to drive safely. But oversight is so lax that drivers are able to skirt the rules and climb into their cabs with heart conditions or impaired vision or high blood pressure - problems that heighten the risk of accidents.
Of course the regulations prohibit licensing drivers whose health may cause them to pass out or react slowly or not see clearly, but it's shockingly easy to navigate around those provisions. The first problem is that the system allows any licensed medical examiner - a category that includes physician's assistants and chiropractors - to conduct the biennial evaluations without requiring special training. This system is also susceptible to fraud; virtually anyone can sign the document because verifying signatures is too difficult.
Often, however, impaired drivers don't have to lie to hold on to their licenses. The examiners are supposed to be knowledgeable about the demands of long-haul driving and up-to-date on the guidelines, yet many examiners apparently aren't up to the task. One driver tells of how he managed to get through 20 years of physicals without examiners discovering that he was missing part of his leg.
Even if examiners are scrupulous, failing a physical may not be the end of the line. Since there is no centralized reporting and no keeping track of who passes and who fails, there is nothing to stop a driver from shopping around to find someone who will let him slide.
Only a limited number of examiners who have demonstrated their knowledge of the guidelines and their proficiency at conducting the physicals and detecting problems should be certified, and drivers should be required to go to those individuals. Once a physical is conducted, the results should be sent to a central and accessible registry.
In 1997 and 1998, the federal government recorded 33 fatal big rig accidents in which a driver's medication or health was a factor. That does not include accidents in which no one died, and there are probably many more fatal accidents in which the investigators did not recognize that the driver's physical impairment was a contributing cause. Overall, more than 5,000 people are killed each year in crashes involving trucks, with truckers responsible in a little fewer than one out of three cases.
When something goes wrong and you're hauling 80,000 pounds of truck and cargo through the nation's streets and over its highways, the result can be deadly. It is crucial that the people who steer those loads be healthy and alert and in full control of their faculties, and it is up to regulators to make sure that they are.