Alcohol or Drug Involvement in Truck Accidents
Truck driver drug and alcohol abuse is a serious problem. Driving while impaired, or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, is the obviously extremely dangerous behavior. It’s even more alarming when the intoxicated or inebriated driver is operating a large truck. Commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers are supposed to be drug and alcohol-free. In 1991, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) passed the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act, which requires Department of Transportation agencies across the nation to regularly test their drivers for drugs and alcohol.
A driver who fails a drug and alcohol test or is arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs will be disallowed to operate a commercial motor vehicle. Section 383.37 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Regulations require an employer to disqualify such a driver from operating a CMV from a year to life, depending on the violation(s).
Perhaps due to those consequences, truckers do have fewer documented drunk driving accidents than non-commercial drivers. But that statistic can be a bit misleading. According to the 2019 edition of the US Department of Transportation’s “Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts“ 4,600 truckers were involved in fatal accidents during 2017. In those fatal accidents, 3.6 percent of the commercial drivers tested positive for Blood Alcohol Concentrations of 0.01 percent and above. Only 2.5 percent of the drivers tested positive for a BAC of 0.08 percent or above, which is the legal Blood Alcohol Concentration in most states.
So, based on those statistics, it indeed seems that alcohol related trucking accidents are much less than to alcohol-related private passenger deaths, which is around 20% with a BAC at 0.08 percent or above. But BACs are deceptive when you think realize ANY alcohol consumption reduces a vehicle operator’s ability to drive safely.
If you simply compare the legal vs illegal BAC percentages, it certainly seems that most truckers are driving sober. But trucks can be a hazard on the road regardless of whether the driver is under the influence. It takes only a SMALL amount of alcohol to increase that hazard. Some of the ways drugs or alcohol can affect one’s ability to drive safely include:
- Impaired muscle coordination, reaction time and vision.
- Impaired ability to concentrate. Alcohol makes it harder to concentrate and make split-second decisions. A driver may look away from the road for a little too long or fail to see oncoming traffic.
- Poor decision-making ability.
- Delayed reaction time.
NHTSA statistics show that 72 percent of the people killed in fatal large truck accidents were occupants of other vehicles.
Commercial drivers should understand the issues concerning alcohol-consumption, truck-driving, and safety. It’s included in their CDL licensing training materials. The FMCSA CDL guidelines mention alcohol 47 times. Truckers should know better than to drink and drive.
Despite industry-wide testing for both drugs and alcohol, truck DUIs still happen. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has conducted studies concerning drug usage in truckers, finding that drug abuse has been a major contributor to both non-fatal and fatal truck accidents across the country.