Pubdate: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 2001 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321 Author: Jonathan D. Salant, The Associated Press HEALTH OF DRIVERS FACTOR IN CRASHES Federal Board Urges Tighter Standards For Bus And Truck Operators' Medical Exams WASHINGTON - Bus and truck drivers should be required to undergo more stringent physical examinations, federal officials said Tuesday, linking recent crashes to drivers with heart problems, kidney disease and poorly controlled diabetes. In its final report on the Mother's Day 1999 bus crash that killed 22 people in New Orleans, the National Transportation Safety Board said the federal government should make sure that doctors who perform the exams know the demands of driving a truck or bus, learn how health problems can affect drivers' performances and be able to find out whether an applicant failed an earlier exam. The exams are given every two years. In addition, the board said, doctors and others who have concerns about a driver's health should be able to tell state and federal officials without risk of being sued. The New Orleans crash was one of several accidents in the past two years involving bus or truck drivers with medical problems. Despite being hospitalized for heart and kidney disease 10 times in the 20 months before the accident, the driver in the New Orleans crash was repeatedly cleared to renew his commercial license, and doctors never reported his health problems to state or federal officials. Three months after the crash, the driver, Frank Bedell, died of a heart attack. Bedell also had been fired from two previous jobs after failing drug tests, but his last employer had no way to learn that information. After the crash, Bedell tested positive for marijuana. The NTSB blamed the crash on the driver's health and the failure of the doctors to try to take him off the road. "Medical personnel need to report unfit drivers to the proper authorities," acting NTSB Chairwoman Carol Carmody said. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the bus and truck industry, plans to review the NTSB recommendations. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth