Truck drivers on federal disability – but still driving?

It sounds outrageous, but it’s true.  The latest scandal involving the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is that there are bus and truck drivers on American roadways who are accepting money for federal disability – but they’re still on the road.  Even worse, the FMCSA has known about this issue – one that affects all 50 states – since at least 2001, when the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made 8 recommendations to prevent medically unfit bus and truck drivers from causing accidents and killing innocent motorists.

The FMCSA has been accused of dragging its feet in implementing the NTSB recommendations, and several recommendations have remained completely untouched.  Nearly eight years is a long time to implement a mere 8 recommendations, especially when the lives of American drivers are at stake.

Unfortunately for Texas drivers, the Lone Star State was cited in investigations as one of the states with the highest number of truckers violating federal medical rules.  If this worries you, then it should.  Truck accidents are a serious issue for Texans, and adding medically unfit drivers to the mix only kills and injures more of our citizens every day.

You can read more about this problem in our law library article “The Threat of Medically Unfit Truck Drivers”.