Are the nation's trucks and buses "rolling time bombs?"
Advocate blames lobbyists for trend in commercial licenses given to fully disabled people
12:23 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, 2008
It's enough to scare anyone who has ever ridden in the shadow of a semi trailer truck.
A new government study cross-referenced all the nation's commercial driver's licenses with the disability lists of three major government agencies: Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor and Social Security.
It found that nationwide more than half a million people are licensed to drive a bus or a semi tractor trailer, even though the federal government considers them fully disabled.
"We think that these vehicles are essentially rolling time bombs, because they are definitely going to kill people if they crash," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook.
Some portion of these drivers may be defrauding the disability system, but there has been ample warning of real danger. In 2002, the driver of a Tippy Toes day care bus fell asleep at the wheel in Memphis, Tenn., killing four children. Investigators say the driver was asleep "quite likely due to an sleep disorder." A simple medical check-up before licensing might have caught that.
In 1999, a chartered bus carrying passengers for a Mother's Day gambling trip flipped over in New Orleans. Twenty-two people killed there. The driver had life-threatening heart and kidney conditions, but still held a valid driver's license.
During the 1990s Congress told the Department of Transportation to put new regulations in place to deal with this issue. However, the regulators have been dragging their feet.
Consumer safety advocates blame lobbyists.
"The trucking industry has had undue influence in the Department of Transportation for the last decade, and they still do," Claybrook said.
"To paint the industry and truck drivers as having a significant problem in the medical arena is not fair or appropriate," said Dave Osiecki with the American Trucking Association.
Congress plans new hearings later this week.
And regulators say new rules are in the pipeline.
In the meantime, the best drivers can do is steer clear and hope for the best.
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