NCJ Number
161338
Journal
Alcohol, Drugs and Driving Volume: 8 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (July-December 1992) Pages: 177-184
Date Published
1992
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper is a report on the abuse of alcohol and drugs in aviation, rail, commercial trucking, maritime, and mass transit modes of transportation and the implications for the public's safety and the Federal Government's initiatives to address the problem.
Abstract
Following recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board, in 1988 the U.S. Department of Transportation issued drug testing rules for more than 4,000,000 persons working in safety-sensitive occupations in all areas of commercial transportation. In addition to the pre-employment, post-accident, and reasonable-cause tests previously required for railroad workers, the rules added random testing to all modes. This paper reviews the results of the first few years of testing under these rules and discusses a few major accidents the National Transportation Safety Board has investigated that involved the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Based on new information on alcohol and drug involvement in commercial transportation and on several tragic accidents over the past few years, Congress, Federal agencies, and the transportation industry are paying increased attention to this safety problem. More research, better testing programs, and stronger management practices and policies about drug and alcohol use are beginning to have a positive effect. The National Transportation Safety Board believes that testing does have a deterrent effect, but it alone will not solve this problem. Programs must also include strategies to identify and treat abusers. In many of the tragic accidents reviewed in this article, a check of the operator's driving record would have made it clear that the operator should not have been at the wheel. Such screening programs are now being put into place. 19 references