GAO Claims Truckers Skirt Health Regs

Light & Medium Truck, Sep 2008 by McNally, Sean

The Government Accountability Office said in late July that hundreds of thousands of truck drivers with potentially serious medical conditions are being allowed to drive heavy vehicles, citing loopholes and weaknesses in the federal government's program to certify drivers. However, trucking industry officials said concerns raised by the report were overblown.

In a July 21 report, GAO said that "analysis of commercial license data from [Department of Transportation] and medical disability data from [various federal agencies] found that about 563,000 of such individuals had commercial driver licenses."

The report acknowledged that "not all serious medical conditions interfere with the safe operation of a commercial vehicle."

The GAO's report gave examples of drivers who had forged medical certification, obtained certification fraudulently or been improperly examined by a doctor.

John Hill, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, defended the agency's activities, saying in a statement that his agency was "aggressively pursuing a number of program initiatives to support and strengthen our medical program."

Hill said FMCSA expected to publish rules to create a registry of certified doctors for drivers' exams and linking the CDL with the medical certificate "in the next few months."

Dave Osiecki, vice president of safety, security and operations for American Trucking Associations, said the report added little to the discussion. "There are no real conclusions ... and it doesn't add a whole lot of value to the issue."

Advocacy groups said FMCSA was to blame for the allegedly lax standards.

"We have a major public safety problem and we haven't corrected it," Gerald Donaldson, senior research director for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told The Associated Press.

- Scan McNally