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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth