Responsibility for Alcohol Testing After an Accident Has FHWA's Eye

The government is looking at moving the responsibility of testing drivers for their alcohol level after an accident.

The Federal Highway Administration is fulfilling a provision of the 1998 highway bill that requires a study on how motor carriers conduct post-accident testing and the feasibility of having police do it instead.

American Trucking Associations approves of the study and the idea of having police, not truckers, do the testing, said Dave Osiecki, vice president of the organization.

“We support it because it makes sense simply because the law enforcement officer is on the scene of the accident, and he has the authority, the equipment and the training to do the test,” he said. “A lot of those components often aren’t there for a motor carrier.”

Police can usually perform the test more quickly than a trucking company, and that produces more meaningful results, Osiecki said.

John Jameson Jr., president of JMX, a trucking company in La Plata, Md., said the current regulations don’t make much sense.

“If you’re involved in an accident, more than likely it’s not beside a phone booth,” he said.

Sometimes the police don’t even tell you for three or four hours that it happened or until they get through with their investigation, and by that time you’ve already exceeded the time limits.”

The current procedure requires a company to perform a test within the first two hours if an accident involves a fatal injury or hospital treatment. A test is also required if the driver was issued a citation for a moving violation or the wrecked truck needs to be towed away.

For the full story, see the Feb. 2 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.