Probe of how the federal government fails to medically police truck drivers & prohibit those with potentially dangerous conditions from driving. 'The problem is major,'' said Dr. Kurt Hegmann, head of the oversight board responsible for medical issues.
Monday July 21, 2008, 1:40 pm
I find this appalling...but what major US government IS doing its job to protect us? It's astounding - the Federal Motor Carrier Administration, the agency in charge of seeing that medically unfit truckers are prevented from driving - admits that it has not implemented ANY of the eight recommendations that safety regulators have proposed since 2001.
Now please, I am NOT bashing all truckers - but between the government's lack of oversight and those big rig drivers who KNOW they shouldn't be driving for medical reasons, no wonder over 5,000 people were killed in truck accidents in 2006.
The good (?) news: The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will conduct an oversight hearing this Thursday. But will the House DO anything? CAN they do anything - or is this just another Bush boondoggle along with the FDA, the FTC and the NRC?
Monday July 21, 2008, 2:48 pm
I used to travel more often between Oakland and Los Angeles and found getting behind truckers the best way to fly (pardon the pun). NOT anymore. Some of the antics I have seen out on the highway with these truckers is downright chilling. Thanks for the article confirming my fears, Cate....
Monday July 21, 2008, 4:32 pm
This is very disturbing. Even without medical conditions, many truck drivers do not adhere to the law. They drive far too many hours and become hazards on the road. Try to stay clear!
Monday July 21, 2008, 5:24 pm
Thanks Cate. Lots of log trucks where I live, very scary to drive behind or along side of them. They lose their loads on occasion and those logs are huge and deadly.
Monday July 21, 2008, 6:13 pm
I drove a big rig for 35 years and journaled for about 15 of those years. I hope to write a book about my trucking experiences before I die. To read some sample chapters go to: Myspace.com/emma_beverage
and read the blogs.
I started with the easy stories and plan to expose just how little the industry is actually regulated.
Monday July 21, 2008, 6:14 pm
If these are American big rig truck and bus drivers, then, what do you think is going to happen when the Federal Government allows Mexican drivers to drive in this country and in their unsafe, uninspected big rigs...
Monday July 21, 2008, 7:31 pm
This issue needs addressing for sure.
I know of a case with an accident that happened about 2 years ago near a little town near where I live. The truckdiver was traveling on a rural highway that trucks use as a route and rammed into the back of a car with 6 foster kids in it, the 15 year old driver of the car was driving illegally with only a restricted liscence but the accident was caused by the truck driver; the girl driving the car had just picked up her brothers and sisters from school and daycare, their ages ranged from 15-2. The driver fell asleep at the wheelaccording to him and witnesses said the truck did not slow down at all. I am sure the grl driving must have seen the truck barreling down on them but there was nothing she could do. All of the kids were killed on impact. This was a terrible tragedy for this small community where everyone knows each other and the foster mother has still not recovered fully from this tragedy 2 years latter.
Monday July 21, 2008, 8:37 pm
noted, hhhmmmmm and how much more is the expansion of this danger when the BIG highway opens? There will be no control of the Mexican trucks, there will be no control of the "Gypsy Truckers", the Union driver/owners will be out for blood and the Mexican/Gypsy and you and I will be caught in the middle. hhhmmmm!
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 12:00 am
My husband is a truck driver... One of the good guys though! Healthy, excellent driving record, etc., etc. But, I must say, even he is disillusioned with the trucking industry nowadays. He says that the majority of truck drivers now are the young 'uns that go to "truck driving schools" that really don't teach the proper way to be a truck driver, which makes it dangerous for us all. The small independant truck drivers are almost obsolete now, it's pretty much the big corporations running the show now. Anyway, what I'm saying is... not ALL truck drivers are bad, there are a few good ones left. Also, my husband has to get COMPLETE physical once a year for his employer. Agreed, FMCSA should be stricter on who they are letting behind the wheels of these semis and buses, BUT, it should also be up to the companies that are hiring these drivers also. (Thanks for listening)...
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 2:09 am
Kathy W., i agree with you. my husband is also a truck driver, have been for well over 20 years and Some of the younguns do not know diddly about driving a truck. Alot of the big cooperations hire them since they went to some back water school and got a CDL. But there are also alot of the wrecks caused by the cars and regular pick ups. It seems whenever a big truck is in an accident it is AUTOMATICALLY their fault, and i have seen some of the big truck drivers who i am scared to drive around but there are far more cars and pickups that i am afraaid of, i have seen with my own eyes, the extent that some cars will go to just to go faster, etc, and have also seen a wreck between a big truck and a pickup inwhich the pick up stated to the police that the truck plowed into him and that he did not hit the truck. Which many cars stopped for the accident and saw and said the pick up ran into the big truck and hit it not the other way around as the pickup driver said. My husaband has to get a COMPLETE DOT physical every year also if he does not pass that physical HE DOES NOT GET TO DRIVE, but i know a couple who drive for these rag time truck companies who pay off the doctors to keep their cdls and are able to keep driving even tho they are not fit to drive a regular vehicle. It is hard when you see the basically the good, the bad and the ugly in this industry and your family depends on their livelyhood to it because your husband, wife, etc is a driver. NOT ALL ARE BAD DRIVERS, HAVE MEDICAL ISSUES, ETC, but theones who do, you have to REMEMBER THEY ALSO DRIVE A REGULAR CAR, PICKUP, ETC, AND CAN CRASH THOSE JUST AS WELL AS THEY HAVE CRASHED THE BIG TRUCKS. some food for thought. there, So PLEASE DO NOT PUT ALL TRUCK DRIVERS IN THE SAME BOAT AS THE ONES WHO BREAK THE LAW BY NOT HAVING THE CORRECT PAPER WORK OR THE COMPANIES DO GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THEIR DRIVERS OR THE COMMUNITY ONLY GREED FOR THE $$$$. Thanks for listening and hopefully understanding alittle more about what the truck drivers who are the good guys have to go thru.
thanks Cate, noted,
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 2:45 am
It aint the truckees most of the time -Ever hitched with them-The company compels them to carry false logbooks- They usually have to use speed to
keep up and going to the schedules that are set-By speed I mean the drug which actually turns men into semi zombies if taken for too long- A friend of mine for instance who was a law student and needed money to study joined "Quick as Air" for a year. Study was out of the question when he got the cash he no longer had amind.
Also many truckees are on exhorbitany HP for their trucks and have to accede to demands from their companies that are horrific and dangerous.
There is an immense amount of Cant and hypocricy about this
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 4:15 am
Jim, I'm with you...that whole Mexican truck thing makes my blood boil and frightens me too!
Kathy & Lisa...note I did say I am not bashing ALL truck drivers...I know that many many truckers are safe and responsible drivers, but because my husband's closest friend was a long-haul trucker (Colorado to northernmost Canada, John passed away last year - NOT an accident - leukemia) I have heard some real horror stories of life on the road.
Emma - sounds like a great project! Good luck with your writing!
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 4:30 am
Great point Jim, we do have some regulations, many are ignored by the trucking companies, but let another country come here without a care for our people, this will get so much worse. And these drivers, so many, know no other way to make a living, they would have to go on welfare before this country would retrain them for another field. The pay is crap, the hours are unbelievable (hours they have to make or lose their job, think about that the next time you call in sick), and the other 4 wheeling people on the road, as frightened of these trucks as they are, think nothing of pulling out in front of a truck with no room to spare. My husband has that horror story all day long, smoking his tires, burning his brakes, because he sees the minivan with kiddies in it just inches in front of his bumper. People pass him, swerve quick to cut him off and give him the finger because: HE ISN'T GOING FAST ENOUGH TO SUIT THEM! Ironic, isn't it. And the next time anyone wants to "draft" behind that rig, remember this, if you can't see those side mirrors, the driver can't see you.
We do have far too many drivers who are unsafe, illegal. Many on drugs. Blame the company for allowing it, and I mean blame them, call them and complain! Some of these drivers are outright criminal.
One little point of safety for all of you in cars, etc, when you see a truck too close to you, pump your brakes to alert him to what he is doing, don't slam them on! You may end up run over, they don't always see you..stay safe friends, and remember, most of them have families too.
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 5:09 am
Cate, sorry if it seemed that i was griping that you were implying all truckeres. It is that most of the time when you hear of a big truck wreck the media and everyone already assumes it is the truckers fault, he fell asleep etc, but sometimes it is the companies fault for not fixing soemthing on the truck, a four wheeler doing what Shelia G. described, and i too hear the horror stories daily from my husband, and i can also tell you some from being on the truck with him and how the four wheelers think that a semi truck with a 53 foot trailer should be able to stop on a dime, but the four whellers do not have any idea that there is not way you can stop 40,000 pounds plus that quickly like a car can. I hate driving our four wheeler because of other cars, Sunday we were on the hightway and this pickup was racing in and out of traffic, changing lanes no turn signal nothing just to get to an exit up the road, with all his in and out he exited the same time we got to it, so his racing really got him nowhere but luckily there was no accident the way he was going, a few times i would have sworn he was going tohit a car in front of him. that is the way it is for the big rigs day in and day out. or the four wheelers do not read the signs on the trailer saying that it makes wide turns and squeezes up next to the big rig while he is trying to make a left hand turn in the turning lanes. but like Cate said if/when they open up the mexican border for all trucks from there to go to canada, it will be a heck of alot worse then now. Here in Texas we get some of the Mexican truckers up here and they cannot read the signs and the trucks are so ricketidedly that they look as if they are going to fall apart if they hit a bump. If/when they open that up, which i am praying and hopeing they don't, there will be MORE wrecks involving truckers, and so far from what i have read up on this those trucks do not have to have log books, or a cdl, or a dot physical, the only thing said so far is they have to "pass" the truck inspcetion of operative equipment. Thast is scarry too, since most of them do not pass. Like i was trying to say earlier, alot of four wheelers do not give enough room for the big truck, the trucking compaines expect too much from some drivers, appointment times that are not realistic but if the driver does not get it there on time they get fired, so there is a lack of sleep/down time for these guys.
Thanks Cate for the story,
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 5:26 am
Noted! Did you know that the trucks from Mexico do not have to meet the same standards as the trucks that run the roads in the US? I learned this at a seminar conducted by one of the labor unions. Regarding American truck drivers, I had a temp job once and I was underwriting drivers for tractor/trailer rigs. They could have several DUIs while driving a car but they wouldn't count against them when underwriting their insurance.Drunk is drunk be it car or truck. As long as they didn't get a DUI while driving a rig, they had no problems getting their insurance. Kind of sickened me. Truck drivers were at once time very curteous but now they had just as soon run you off the road as look at you. I have nothing else to add because I know that there are some really good trucking companies that don't put up with nonsense. I just don't remember seeing many.
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 5:33 am
Jim, Cate, the Mexican trucks are already on our roads. That is what was disturbing the truckers in the union forum that I attended. Thier rigs don't have to meet the same standards. On a lighter note, one of the attendees at the meeting stood up and said"Why don't you go to Mexico and unionize the drivers instead of complaining. I knew him and the next day I got a call from one of the Union Representatives that said they were getting that man a one way ticket to Mexico. I thought the whole room was going to explode with laughter. Unionize in Mexico..Now there is your laugh for the day.
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 6:46 am
Noted, thanks Cate. I have been watching this sago unfold on the local news. Many truckers are actually eligible for social security disability. Maybe they should take the hint and apply. It won't hurt to try. I'm sure their doctors would agree. Better to have them off the road rather than killing us if one of them has a seizure, or worse...
