DeFazio Targets Drug-Using Truckers

New Study - The House Highway Safety Chairman Wants to Close Loopholes in Testing for Intoxicants

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Peter DeFazio has some advice for everybody on the road this Memorial Day weekend: Check your rearview mirror often to make sure the trucker in that approaching 18-wheeler is driving safely.

A new study by the Government Accountability Office found gaping holes and problems in testing programs for commercial drivers. It also discovered poor oversight by federal agencies and spotty compliance with requirements that all drivers be tested.

"What is so clearly laid out in this report is that we have a loophole-ridden system when it comes to drug and alcohol testing in the motor carrier industry that allows an untold number of truck drivers to abuse drugs and operate large trucks," said DeFazio, D-Ore., who chairs the House subcommittee responsible for highway safety.

The GAO study, which was requested by DeFazio and Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., conclusions include:

Widespread refusal by drivers and trucking companies to conduct mandatory testing. GAO investigators found that 9 percent "of carriers have no drug testing program at all."

Little or no monitoring to ensure that drivers who test positive for drug or alcohol abuse complete required counseling programs before returning to the road. GAO cites estimates by substance abuse counselors "that less than half of commercial driver's license holders who test positive or refuse to test successfully complete the return-to-duty process before returning to their jobs."

Few safeguards are in place to prevent truckers from altering urine samples by doing such things as taking masking agents or substituting fake specimens for analysis.

The accounting office based its findings on a detailed review of practices as well as field investigations. In one case, GAO investigators went to testing centers posing as truckers and "found multiple opportunities to cheat on a drug test at nearly every collection facility they investigated and the investigators had no problem smuggling in syntheticurine that fooled the labs."

According to the GAO, "employees at 10 of 24 collection sites tested did not ask the (undercover GAO) investigator to empty his pants pockets, as they are required to do, to ensure he was not carrying adulterants or substitutes."

DeFazio, along with Oberstar and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., also blamed federal regulators for failing to conduct tougher oversight of the industry.

The federal Department of Transportation estimates that 1.6 percent to 2 percent of drivers test positive for drugs. Safety advocates, however, say the percentage is higher.

In a 2007 survey by the Oregon State Police, about one in 10 truckers sampled for drugs tested positive.

According to an OSP spot check last September on Interstate 84 at Cascade Locks, 11 percent of the 512 trucks inspected were placed out of service for safety violations, and 19 percent of drivers were ordered out of service for other infractions, state police reported.

Lives are at stake, say congressional leaders. Federal records show that each year 5,500 deaths and 160,000 injuries are caused by collisions involving large trucks and buses.

"We need to get truck drivers who are on drugs off our roads. It's that simple," said Mica, who joined DeFazio and Oberstar at a news conference to discuss the GAO report.

All three lawmakers said they probably will collaborate on legislation to attack the problems.

DeFazio said he is putting together a bill that would establish a nationwide database to track positive test results. Such a database would make it harder for a trucker who tests positive to avoid sanctions by applying at a different company or moving to another state.

The bill would also outline standards and protocols collection sites must follow to lessen chances that samples are tainted, substituted or altered to hide drugs.

He said his bill would give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration the authority to levy higher fines to collection sites and trucking firms that do not comply with testing standards.

A spokeswoman for the American Trucking Association said the trade group would support DeFazio's idea for a national clearinghouse for test results. The ATA also asked Congress to pass legislation outlawing the production and sale of substances whose sole purpose is to defeat drug tests. The group also wants the federal Department of Transportation to have authority to use hair and other specimens in drug tests.

The Oregonian; May 24, 2008

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