mandatory random drug testing for licensed drivers

https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking...or-alcohol-in-their-systems-a-study-says

Its time. Just think of the children. Won't somebody protect the children????????????

All vehicle operators AND all welfare and state unemployment check recipients should be included

Lets just go ahead and test everyone weekly. Put breathalyzers in all vehicles. The responsible among us must be punished along with the idiots.
If you've got nothing to hide you shouldn't object, right?

And aircraft! TSA Pilot Check.

I want Biden's cabinet and a whole bunch of men and women in the alphabet agencies drug tested. While we are at it, we can IQ test them because one way or another there are a whole bunch who are not fit for service.

Correct

Maybe they should just lead by example. Put interlocks on every police car, snow plow,fire truck, bus, any municipal owned vehicle. Do that for a year or two get their statistics before they go public. See how that works out. Maybe make every judge and court house work blow to get in the building in morning. Then Radom drug test during work week.

Mac

Putting breathalyzers in all vehicles is already being pushed hard. It became a federal regulation not long ago. Don't expect the courts to do anything against it. Driving is a privilege and even when it infringes on people's rights (DUI checkpoints) the courts have sided with government. Here's a link to the story:
Link

A good reason for all the drunks to put down their bottles and cans and pick up a bong. Won't have to worry about breathalyzer and will still be able to effectively detach from reality.

And with increased desire to legalize and regulate pot, politicians will still be able to maintain the tax revenue lost from decreased alcohol consumption.

Could an alcoholic argue discrimination since breathalyzers don't test for pot, meth, cocaine or other hard drugs? After all this would allow other drug users to get their high on and not be penalized for it. Guarantee there is a piece of crap lawyer out there that would sincerely take that case. If nothing else just for the money. Oh wait......

I wonder how upset politicians would be when the beer, liquor and wine companies stop giving campaign donations?

So many things to ponder!!!

And the really sad part is many people will be just fine with it.

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"Good". that's what everyone said when they came after the cannabis users (who dont cause acidents by the way) and now going after the drunks that cause all the accidents. Its about time.

Ol Putin will throw you in the Gulag for 9 years if he catches you with a joint.

Thats a perfect example of hypocrisy , Russians have a REAL alcohol problem..Weed ....no problem.

Drug testing was a scam started by insurance companies to welch out of paying claims for anyone that smoked a joint in the last month. They bribed businesses with lower rates if they went along with it. Of course, most did despite no evidence drugs causing any accidents at all. Unlike alcohol that causes the most accidents and yet gets a free pass.

Breathalyzers are super annoying. No , I am not a drunk but I do take medicine with alcohol as a carrier. If you take medicine right before you attempt to start the truck , you aren't going anywhere.

If you think cannabis users don't cause accidents, you've probably been using too much of it.

21.5% of crash deaths in America involve cannabis. People high on marijuana, on average, kill around 9890 people a year in the US with motor vehicles.

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/deadly-car-accidents-involving-cannabis-and-alcohol-have-doubled/

Keith

There's lots of jobs where drug and alcohol use is forbidden. Driving semis should very obviously be one of them. If truck drivers don't like it they should go find a job that doesn't require testing, like everyone else who doesn't want to be tested.

Keith

Waiting for the response. This might take a bit. Let’s listen to a song.

Why not random tests for everybody? lets save the children

Its a risk reduction measure, I just dont see it ever going away for driving semis. We could ban semis and trucking and go back to train freight which would be the far smarter thing....guess it beats getting tested. Lmao.

I think more jail/prison time for the ones that get caught. ….It’s all about money the way it is now.

There's a huge difference in the amount of damage you can do with a vehicle that can legally weigh up to 80,000 pounds, compared to what you can do with a vehicle that weighs as low as 2000 pounds.

Keith

Thats a totally bogus study of drunk driving accident's that also had cannabis in their system. We both know what caused the accident more than likely, but please try again.


"Our method of testing for cannabis remain "suboptimal" and individuals can test positive weeks after they have consumed it, however, we can say from fatalities from crashes involving cannabis are more likely to involve alcohol even if we dont know the level of cannabis intoxication" TOTAL BS nice try though.... so they want to blame cannabis for the accidents and just so happens alcohol is "involved" is all... lol

I think you guys just hate cannabis because your drinkers.

Keith it only took a pick up running a red light to kill my son. No 80k lb rig.

Pretty soon you will run out of qualified workers. Isn't there already a shortage of truck drivers?

They can still work when they are stoned-just put them back on the rickshaw.

I am sorry for the loss of your son. Yes, smaller vehicle collisions kill people too.

On average, 11% of the people killed in traffic accidents in the US are killed by truckers. The reason the number is so incredibly high, compared to the percentage semis represent of all vehicles on the road, is that when truckers mess up, they often totally crush multiple vehicles. They have the mass to cause truly massive damage.

Keith

What it boils down to is.... your employer started all of this, they sold a little bit of your freedom for a discounted insurance rate. And now we dont have much left to sell anymore.

Commercial aviation has been required by Feds to have a drug testing plan since 88 or 89. I have had random calls most every year I worked. At the last placed I worked I had 2 pee in a cup calls and 2 breathalyzers in just under 2 years.
Adds substantially to the cost of doing business.

How many times in the past 20 yrs have I heard of some bad crash by someone drunk driving on suspended or no license. Kinda like more gun laws and not enforcing the ones we already have.

Do functioning addicts prove being impaired is not a safety issue?

In Kansas anyways, Snow plow drivers (CDL holders), we also use our trucks for lots of other things, are subject to random drug testing, and mandatory testing in the event of an accident.

Nobody should roll around smoking weed behind the wheel. However, popping positive on a drug test for weed doesn't mean you were impaired while driving (unless you were using immediately before or at the time). Getting stoned the night before or even hours before does not impair driving. It also depends on how much you smoke or eat. You might be fine to drive immediately (just like you can probably drive just fine having a beer or two). I studied this extensively in my younger days.

The drunks are the real problem on the roads. Followed by the opioid abusers and tweakers. Despite the vital importance of due process and civil liberty, I might get behind summarily shooting some prick on the scene of an alcohol/drug related accident he/she caused.

Aren't the jails already full?

Why not just require interlocks on EVERY vehicle? Not a snarky comment, I mean it! Way too many impaired drivers on the roads.

46% of the drivers involved didn't test for anything. How do you prevent this roughly half from having accidents? My thought is bad drivers cause most accidents. Seriously, I think over half the drivers I see, do not use turn signals, speed, and pass in the right lane.

A few years back if a driver couldn't get a CDL , Illinois had a program where they could come here and buy one. But after a few horrible wrecks the program had a wreck!

Certainly should test at license renewal, but hard to accomplish with online renewals.

I recall a random drug search on I-95 in GA about 30 years ago. There was a lighted sign announcing drug test/search being conducted a few miles after an approaching off ramp. Those wishing to avoid the search thought they could exit sooner. The real search was conducted upon those who tried to bypass the search.

If game wardens can search every vehicle for illegally taken deer or elk, it seems a drug testing and searching is no different. I would not object. National Guard groups can do it for their state during weekend drills.

Sure as long as I get to call the boys and tell them that BigBob has volunteered cameras, microphones along with numerous AI features in everything you do on a daily basis. That way they can 100% ID you, know everything you do, sell your data, control what you see and decide the future because any input you try to give is never delivered to the intended recipent, but you are never told that. Get your head out of those cheeks and think about what you just recommended.

The solution for drunk driving is to simply impose a permanent and national lifetime ban that is not appealable to anybody who drives drunk. It doesn't matter, it is what it is, if you drive drunk, the rest of your life you will have to pay to ride a bus. The problem will get solved in less than 5 years.

trial the next day and public hanging could be made legal. that should pass constitutional muster?

"25 of the most common causes of car accidents include:

Distracted Driving. Distracted drivers are the top cause of car accidents in the U.S. today.
Speeding. Speed kills, and traveling above the speed limit is an easy way to cause a car accident.
Drunk Driving. Driving under the influence of alcohol causes car accidents every day, even when they are one the top causes that can be avoided.
Reckless Driving. Reckless driving is a moving violation in which a driver displays a disregard for the rules of the road"

Might as well keep this logic going.
Obesity kills. A government mandated and required diet should fix that.
Guns kill. You certainly don't need those.
So many evils could be cured by government requirements.....

"Speeding
A third substantial contributor to collisions on U.S. roads consists of a driving offense that the vast majority of us take for granted. Studies have shown that a full two-thirds of all vehicles traveling on highways, city streets, country roads, and everywhere in between exceed the speed limit. Drivers speed because it’s a habit, because they fall behind in their daily schedules, because driving becomes an outlet for heightened emotions, and because some of them just plain like the thrill. Unfortunately, by speeding, drivers also risk other people’s lives."

Probably time to just outlaw private vehicle ownership and require public transportation. It'll save the planet too.

I have to ask, “Why are you in the left lane if you aren’t passing?”

Because that is the lane with the least potholes.

Give competent lawyers a week and they could be ready. It's a car wreck case. Not very complicated.

Dragging out pretrial nonsense wasn't in the Constitution the last time I read it. You will however need a short time for appeals.

Very true. My wife and I and probably my daughter would have also died had it been a semi. Instead we had serious injuries but lived.

Is there any data on how many deadly wrecks are from foreign drivers? We get a lot of them at work and some can't communicate in English. So how do they have a license?