Medically Unqualified Truck Drivers Can Have Deadly Consequences

November 03, 2010

Generally, after taking certain over-the-counter medications or receiving hospital treatment a patient is told not to drive or operate heavy machinery. Most patients abide by this, but for a commercial bus driver who failed to heed the warning, coupled with a lack of medical oversight by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the consequences proved to be deadly.

On an early morning in May 1999 near New Orleans, a casino-bound tour bus veered off a highway, struck a guardrail, plowed through a chain-link fence, flew over a golf cart path and crashed into an embankment, killing 22 passengers on the bus. The bus driver had been in the hospital the day before the crash for kidney treatment, and he tested positive after the bus accident for marijuana and an over-the-counter sleep aid.

Following the crash in 1999, the issue of medically unsafe commercial drivers gained national attention. The National Transportation Safety Board quickly recommended that the DOT establish a medical oversight program for all interstate commercial drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a division of the DOT, created a program in response. In over the decade that has followed, the program has proven to be largely ineffective, leaving many medically unqualified truck drivers still on the roads.

Medical Certificates

The accident prompted the DOT and FMCSA to implement medical regulations in an attempt to ensure that commercial drivers are physically qualified. One requirement is that commercial truck drivers must have a medical certificate stating that they healthy enough to drive the enormous trucks safely.

A medical certificate can be obtained from any licensed medical practitioner, including a:
- Doctor of medicine
- Doctor of osteopathy
- Physician assistant
- Nurse practitioner
- Chiropractor

A truck driver must undergo a DOT physical examination with the practitioner, and if the practitioner determines that the driver is healthy enough to drive safely, the driver will receive a medical certificate from the practitioner that is valid for two years.

Minimal Standards and Ineffective Enforcement

Despite good intentions, there are many problems with the medical oversight program. There are no training requirements and few standards for what practitioners must evaluate during the DOT physical. If a truck driver is denied a certificate by one practitioner, he or she can go "doctor shopping" until another practitioner grants the certificate.

In addition, the medical certificate form is available on the Internet, where truck drivers can complete it themselves. Checks for medical certificates are rarely performed, and if a driver is caught with a forged certificate or without one at all, most often he or she is fined and allowed to drive off.

Even if law enforcement officials seek to verify a medical certificate, an officer would have to call the practitioner who issued it. There is no central database of medical certificates and no registry of practitioners who perform the exams.

Medically Unqualified Commercial Drivers

According to FMCSA records, there were at least 826 fatal crashes involving medically unqualified or fatigued drivers from 2002 through 2008. Fatigue is included because about one-third of commercial drivers have a condition called sleep apnea, which is a sleep disorder that interrupts breathing and can cause extreme daytime drowsiness.

Also, the FMCSA Roadside Inspections Driver Violations Database shows that, over the past five years, 902,416 citations have been issued to commercial drivers who cannot prove they are medically qualified.

These problems of bogus medical exams, spotty enforcement and virtually no consequences for violating the medical certificate requirement leave medically unqualified truck drivers on the road with often deadly consequences. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a commercial truck accident, speak with an experienced motor vehicle accident attorney to protect your rights.

Article provided by The Breslo Law Firm
Visit us at www.justaccidentlaw.com