NTSB Scrutinizes Federal CDL Program

NEW ORLEANS — Just how good is the federal commercial driver license program?

That’s the question asked by the National Transportation Safety Board at a Jan. 20 and 21 public hearing spurred by several high-profile truck and bus accidents. New Orleans was chosen as the site for the hearing because of a May 9 bus crash in which 22 people were killed.

The NTSB’s ongoing investigation of the New Orleans accident “found serious deficiencies in the CDL program and the medical certification process,” NTSB Chairman James E. Hall said at the hearing’s opening session. “That accident is indicative of the consequences that can arise from inadequate and ineffective driver oversight programs by the industry, the states and the Department of Transportation.”

Much of the testimony and discussion on the first day of the hearing focused on medical issues. Earlier this month, the board issued a report on a 1998 accident in which a Greyhound bus traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Burnt Cabins, Pa., hit a tractor-trailer parked on the side of the highway, killing seven people. The bus driver was taking medication for a sinus condition, which contributed to the sleepiness that caused him to drift off the road, the board said.

For the full story, see the Jan. 17 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.