Drugs & Driving: Texas Leads the Nation in Commercial Truck Drivers with Failed Drug Tests
Drugs & Driving: Texas Leads the Nation in Commercial Truck Drivers with Failed Drug Tests
Drugs & Driving: Texas Leads the Nation in Commercial Truck Drivers with Failed Drug Tests
AUSTIN, Texas (November 9, 2021)- More than 72,000 truck drivers have been taken off US roads since January 2020 because they failed required drug tests administered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. Marijuana was the most common drug identified in positive drug tests and was found in approximately 55.7% of all failed drug tests.
Some industry groups blame strict drug testing policies as a major factor in the truck driver shortage and the nationwide supply chain struggles. According to the American Trucking Association (ATA), the trucking industry’s major trade group, until a reliable test for marijuana impairment is available, the safety of the motoring public must come first, and drivers testing positive for marijuana should not be allowed behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer. The ATA also points to studies which show impairment in heavy users of marijuana persist long after the ‘high’ is gone as a reason to include Marijuana in failed drug tests.
Perhaps more telling is that a majority of CDL drivers who land on the Clearinghouse’s registry of prohibited drivers due to a failed drug test have not started the ‘return to duty’ process. Just over 54,000 CDL drivers- 75% of all drivers in prohibited status- remain sidelined from driving and haven’t begun the rehabilitative program to resume driving in a safety sensitive function as a professional truck driver.
“Marijuana can cause impairment and studies have shown that states with legal marijuana have increased crash rates,” noted Austin personal injury attorney Brad Bonilla. “There is an obvious disconnect between federal law- where marijuana is illegal- and an increasing number of states which allow recreational use of marijuana,” continued Bonilla. “Whether a driver chooses to go through the return to duty process or prefers to have the freedom to use recreational marijuana in states where it is lawfully allowed, shows that the desire to use marijuana is a powerful motivating factor,” concluded Bonilla.
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The Bonilla Law Firm PLLC is a plaintiff’s personal injury law firm based in Austin, Texas. Our firm regularly represents accident victims in 18-wheeler wrecks, commercial vehicle accidents, rideshare (Uber / Lyft) accidents, collisions caused by delivery drivers, distracted driving collisions, impaired driving (drugs or alcohol) collisions and serious injury accidents.
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