WASHINGTON – Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., has some advice for all those people driving this Memorial Day holiday:

Check your rearview mirror early and often, because the driver of that approaching 18-wheeler may have failed one or more drug tests.

A study released this week by Congress’ Government Accountability Office found gaping holes 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, who chairs the House subcommittee responsible for highway safety.

The GAO study, which was requested by DeFazio and Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., found a litany of problems.

They 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 if any safeguards in place to prevent truckers from altering urine samples by such means as taking masking agents or substituting fake specimens for analysis.

GAO based its findings on a detailed review of practices as well as on-site investigations. 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.” They “had no problem smuggling in synthetic urine 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, Oberstar and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., blamed federal regulators for failing to conduct more muscular oversight of the industry.

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

In a 2007 survey by the Oregon State Police, 9.65 percent of 500 truckers sampled for drugs tested positive.

Whatever the real number, lives are at stake. 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.

All three lawmakers said they would likely collaborate on legislation to attack the problems.

DeFazio said the bill he is putting together would establish a nationwide database to track positive test results. Such a database would make it harder – if not impossible – for a trucker who tests positive to avoid sanctions by applying at a different company or moving to another state.

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

The bill also would give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration the authority to levy higher fines on 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.

RB END POPE

(Charles Pope can be contacted at charles.pope(at)newhouse.com.)

2008-05-23-TRUCKDRIVE-SAFETY

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