After a three-year delay to work out the difficult details, a program to carry out alcohol testing of commercial truck drivers will start Jan. 1. Testing of airline pilots and railroad workers was phased in earlier.
Trucking firms are complaining about the cost and complexities, but if early reports are valid, the random testing of pilots and railroad employees is having a positive impact. The same salutary effect should occur in the trucking industry.Congress passed the 1991 Omnibus Transportation Testing Act requiring alcohol testing of workers involved in the handling and shipping of passengers or hazardous materials. The law was adopted after a serious of high-profile, alcohol-related accidents - the most memorable being the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
But passing the law and getting it implemented are different challenges. The implementation has been slow because such programs are complex and expensive and fraught with legal challenges and liabilities.
Trucking industry executives complain that the required testing of truck drivers will be a nightmare for many companies because a half-dozen different types of tests must be conducted.
These include pre-employment tests for new hires, random testing of 25 percent of the existing work force, a "reasonable suspicion" test if a driver is suspected of being under the influence, a post-accident test to determine if alcohol was involved, a return-to-work test for employees who have to go through rehabilitation for an alcohol violation, and follow-up testing of violators for the first year of their return to work.
All of this is expensive and difficult to carry out. The burden will be significant for many firms. But the benefits of an alcohol-free trucking industry will save lives as well as a great deal of money.
This new focus on safety is also being demonstrated in a landmark study on truck driver fatigue, one of the leading causes of highway accidents.
The three-year study by the Federal Highway Administration and the American Trucking Association involves the use of many high-tech sensors and measuring devices, plus 5,000 hours of videotapes of drivers behind the wheel. The study will produce the most complete scientific date on driver fatigue ever assembled.
If all the studying and testing can produce a nation of truck drivers who are sober and well-rested behind the wheel, not only will truckers be safer, but all the rest of America's motorists - who share the same highways - will benefit as well.