Trucking Companies Sanctioned For Hiring Truck Drivers With Drug and Alcohol Use Issues
There are specific rules and regulations in place designed to prevent serious injury and fatal accidents involving semi truck drivers with drug and/or alcohol problems. Before a trucking company hires a truck driver and sends him/her out on the road, that company must make sure the truck driver has been drug tested. The trucking company is also obligated to investigate whether the truck driver has a drug or alcohol problem or has ever tested positive for a prior drug or alcohol test.
Unfortunately, many trucking companies do not comply with this safety requirement and hire suspect tractor trailer drivers without performing the proper background checks. As a result, unsafe semi truck drivers and semi truck drivers with a propensity to use drugs and/or alcohol are out on the roads driving 70,000 pound tractor trailers and at risk of causing serious traffic accidents.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) which administers safety regulations that govern the trucking industry and try to prevent serious traffic crashes involving semi trucks has stepped up enforcement against truck drivers with histories of drug and/or alcohol use and the trucking companies who are hiring them. In a recent ten day period, the FMCSA found that more than 80 trucking companies were involved in some sort of violation involving safety records relating to drug and alcohol use. Almost 80 commercial drivers were taken out of service for some period of time related to drug and/or alcohol safety violations.
It is scary to think that there are so many semi truck drivers on the roads with histories of drug and/or alcohol problems. It is also scary to think that in addition to the many other safety violations that are common among semi truck drivers and trucking companies, safety violations relating to drug and/or alcohol use are so prevalent with trucking companies failing to even check into the background of the truck drivers they hire.
