Data comparing pre-employment drug tests of truck driver applicants found evidence that thousands of habitual drug users are slipping through the federal drug screening system.
Compiled by the Alliance for Driver Safety & Security (known as the Trucking Alliance), whose members include major truckload operators J.B. Hunt [NASDAQ: JBHT], U.S. Xpress [NYSE: USX] and Knight-Swift Transportation [NYSE: KNX], the “first of its kind” survey found that while 94 percent of the urinalysis and hair analysis of 151,662 applicants tested drug-free, thousands failed either or both tests.
Based on what the Trucking Alliance asserted is a “statistically valid sample” of 3.5 million commercial drivers, the survey projects with a 99 percent confidence level and less than 1 percent margin of error that 301,000 truck drivers currently on the road would fail or refuse a hair analysis.
“We have a huge drug abuse problem in the trucking industry, and should actually purge an estimated 300,000 commercial drivers to clean it up,” said Trucking Alliance Managing Director Lane Kidd in a statement. “No wonder truck accidents are on the rise.”
The results of the survey were recently submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as well as to the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Highway Subcommittee before its hearing today (June 12) on the state of the trucking industry.
“The T&I Subcommittee can intervene to mitigate this problem,” the Alliance stated in comments to the subcommittee. The group wants lawmakers to urge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to complete hair test guidelines, which were mandated under the FAST Act surface transportation legislation in 2015 but have yet to be rolled out.
“Until DOT recognizes a hair analysis, no employer will be allowed to submit hair test failures into the pending USDOT Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. This will make it virtually impossible for another employer to know if a person applying for a truck driver job has previously failed a drug test,” according to the Alliance.
Testifying at the June 12 subcommittee hearing, American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear echoed the group’s concern. “[The hair-test guidelines] have been sitting at HHS for three years. DOT is ready to move forward on this. Get on HHS and get this thing done.”
The Alliance pointed out that DOT currently recognizes only urinalysis as a drug test method, allowing employers to require additional test methods as part of employer hiring practices. However, “a growing number of trucking company employers, including Trucking Alliance carriers, require a second drug test, a hair analysis, as part of their pre-employment truck driver hiring policies.”
Using urinalysis alone missed nine out of 10 illegal drug users, according to the Alliance survey. Cocaine was the most prevalent drug that tested positive, followed by opioids and marijuana. “Applicants who failed or refused the hair test were disqualified for employment at these companies, but likely obtained the same job elsewhere, at companies that administer only a urinalysis.”
Some trucking experts contend that, while needed, more rigid federal guidelines and enforcement of drug testing will make it more difficult to seat drivers.
Obi Gromek
Out of the 94% how many are employed by the giant Mega fleets. I am willing to bet that it is the majority. What a RIDICILOUS article. Generalizations and skewing data seems to be the gisy of your article. I suggest a revisit of elementary statistics and data analysis, BECAUSE THIS IS A COMPLETELY UNFOUNDED ASSUMPTION PRESENTED AS FACT…..IN OTHER WORDS FAKE NEWS PROPAGANDA.
John
Not only that Ray, all these foreigners that are here illegally are going to need jobs. Guess what some idiot bureaucrats idea will be to solve this? Get them all CDLs and pay them $0.20 a mile. Hell most of them will be happy with that!
pete
they are already doing that!
Evil Dwarf Drago
Until drivers organize and unionize you will all be shat upon daily. Too many drivers talk big smack about not being in a union then start crying the blues about the low pay, long.and unpaid work hours and general disrespect they get from everybody. Until you fools do something to unionize you’re all basically permanently screwed and you have nobody to blame but yourselves. For starters everybody should join the OOIDA and when they get huge maybe people and Gov’t would listen to your gripes rather then totally ignoring you all and laughing in your ignorant faces.
Deputy Dawg 2020
Using the slogan from the Navy Seals, MOM
MIND OVER MATTER, if the mind doesn’t work it doesn’t matter….get off the drugs and booze, stop claiming it’s an incurable disease, with the mind, you can accomplish anything….EXCUSES ARE FOR THE WEAK….FIND THE ANSWER AND REACH THE SUMMIT…..The life you save could be your own….
Timothy ODonnell
I will gladly take a mandatory hair test and right after I will need a raise from .45 cents a mile too .75 cents a mile. If I don’t get it then I’ll just go back too welding. For the hours days and weeks I put into this job year after year the pay just doesn’t justify the loss of my personal life. The less drivers you have the more you’ll need but with automation who in their right mind at 22 would even look at trucking. I’m all for this but I’m definitely gonna need way more money. This isn’t the good career it was in my Father’s Day. It’s actually a horrible career choice for anyone who wants a family. I’m about 2 or three new regulations away from leaving anyway. I’m not a criminal or a drug addict and I’m tired of being treated like one. This country needs us for now but hates us. Well I for one am just about done. These same companies you mentioned have some of the worst drivers and pay the least. Job hunt and us express are horrible employers who will replace the driver the first chance they get.
Bobby
So, if they know these people failed test with one carrier before going somewhere else that only piss tests to drive, then dont they already know the people they are speaking of? And have they correlated those people’s identities to the crashes to show that is an actual REASON for more accidents? Doesnt sound too hard to do. If they know someone failed a test for one carrier, why wouldnt they just suspend the driver’s license for 6 months or a year, then nobody would be able to hire them legally until that suspension is over.
I dont know, never had a wreck, never drove on pills, weed or alcohol, it just seems like, if they know 300.000 drivers have failed tests at one carrier or another, they should be able to suspend their commercial license.
Bubbler
You’ll see a real driver shortage when they roll out hair testing. I’d be more for a test that can see the last 12-24 hrs of drug use and be subjected to at least 1 random per week. That way they’ll actually catch the drivers that are using on the job. Accidents on the rise because of drugs, give me a break. It has nothing to do with how easy it is to get a CDL, how crowded and shitty the roads are, cell phone distractions or anything else ??
Steve Hughart
Why don’t you mega carries at MIT it y’all hire the worst people out there and think you can make a truck driver out of them that’s why the accident rate is up so high I see the kind of people y’all they can’t back up in the truck stop and when they do get park they don’t even do a post trip and leave there head lights on and go to bed