Some Truck Drivers Shouldn’t Be On Louisville Roads

According to a congressional report, some truck drivers may be too medically unfit to be driving on the roads and highways.  Researchers from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discovered that truck drivers have been fabricating their medical certificates in order to obtain the commercial licenses needed to operate large trucks.

The study analyzed a sample of 614 medical certificates that were obtained from truckers at roadside inspections in California, Illinois and Ohio.  When the Committee attempted to verify the examiners listed on the medical certificates, only 407 could be determined to be valid.

Currently, there are very few attempts to authenticate a medical certificate provided by a truck driver and little risk that the trucker will be caught forging the document.  There is no central database available for inspectors to verify medical information and there are hardly any controls over how truck drivers obtain medical certificates.

Thousands of large truck accidents have been caused by truckers who have suffered seizures, heart attacks and unconscious spells while driving.  When a semi-truck hits another vehicle, the outcome is usually catastrophic, as the weight of the truck gets transferred to the other vehicle.  Serious injuries often result and sometimes death.

One U.S. safety study found that hundreds of thousands of drivers have commercial licenses, even though they also qualify for full federal disability payments.

More regulations and procedures need to be established to prevent medically unfit truck drivers from operating tractor-trailers.  The National Traffic Safety Board recommended that examiners who certify truck drivers as medically fit be qualified and know what to look for.  A system to track medical certificate applications has also been proposed.

The article, “Study Finds that Truck Drivers are Forging Medical Certificates,” has more information on this topic.

If you have been injured in large truck accident in Kentucky, contact Gray and White Law at (502) 637-6000 or (800) 637-6033 for a legal consultation.