US nixes sleep apnea test plan for truckers, train engineers

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

US nixes sleep apnea test plan for truckers, train engineers

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and MICHAEL R. SISAK
32 minutes ago

U.S. officials are abandoning plans to require sleep apnea screening for truck drivers and train engineers, a decision that safety experts say puts millions of lives at risk.

The Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said late last week that they are no longer pursuing the regulation that would require testing for the fatigue-inducing disorder that’s been blamed for deadly rail crashes in New York City and New Jersey and several highway crashes.

The agencies argue that it should be up to railroads and trucking companies to decide whether to test employees. One railroad that does test, Metro-North in the New York City suburbs, found that 11.6 percent of its engineers have sleep apnea.

The decision to kill the sleep apnea regulation is the latest step in President Donald Trump’s campaign to drastically slash federal regulations. The Trump administration has withdrawn or delayed hundreds of proposed regulations since he took office in January — moves the president has said will help bolster economic growth.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/ac5ac5c34bf64a09af0a0678e0823ff6/US-nixes-sleep-apnea-test-plan-for-truckers,-train-engineers

[dalton99a]

1. Trump likes to kill Americans

the more the better

[Cryptoad]

5. ALmost as much as ,,,

railroad and private trucking companies.....
lack of self regulation is why we now have CDL's
companies aint going to do it
and dont give shit less

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. "lack of self regulation is why we now have CDL's " Really?

The reason the Commercial Drivers License came about is because there was no standardization of qualifications testing between the states, applicable to truck drivers who drove through them. It also promoted the sharing of violation data between states and that cleaned up the rather rampant situation back then where drivers could have licenses from several different states.

When I got my first "Chauffeurs License" in Florida back in 1978, it was merely a 75 question written test and there was no requirement for me to take an observed driving test, plus it let me drive anything on the road. When the CDL's came along a decade or so later, I was grandfathered in, so I have never had a state observed driving test. Never. But that is not the case for drivers who entered the industry after 1988 or 89.

CDL's didn't come along because of lack of self regulation in the industry. They came along because there were so many versions of testing and drivers who had more than one license would show the one with the least amount of points when they got pulled over.

[Cicada]

2. Insurance is cheaper than testing and replacing workers

So this is a no brainer.

The railroad or trucking firm is well positioned to calculate which is cheaper - insurance or testing.

Finally the Government does the smart thing.

Trump just keeps making America great again. Think how much we could lower car prices if we got rid of all those dumb rules, such as requiring padded padded dashes, brakes, etc.

[Historic NY]

3. After the recent string of horrific accidents where its been claimed.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. Treatment for apnea has a variety of secondary benefits, including lowering blood pressure, reducing

overweight as a result of more energy, lower stress levels, mitigating depression, etc. But yeah, why on earth would an employer want healthy employees when they can run them into the ground?

[AllyCat]

6. So drug testing is good, sleep apnea not okay. Got it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. +1000000.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Drug tests feed private sector prisons, sleep apnea has health care costs

they know which side of their bread is buttered, for sure

[flibbitygiblets]

9. It's like they're doing everything they can to kill us all quickly

The few of us remaining will get to be right. Trump and his blind, stupid followers will have long since died of preventable conditions like obesity, heart disease, diabetes. But at least they'll be with Jeebus.