Anti-terrorist help for truckers
By: staff
Date: 2003-08-04
An Ohio truck driver's recent admission of involvement with a terrorist plot to destroy U.S. bridges was just one of several incidents propelling efforts to introduce new security plans for truckers.
In unveiling plans to combat the threat of new types of terrorism in the nation's trucking industry, New York democrat Sen. Charles E. Schumer pointed to the huge numbers of trucks heading into urban centers such as New York and Buffalo.
The George Washington Bridge into Manhattan sees approximately 15,000 trucks a day, the Holland Tunnel nearly 8,000, and nearly 9,000 trucks pass along the Goethals/Verrazano/Gowanus/BQE each day, Schumer said. He fears a truck laden with hazardous material could be parked next to a large office building and cause untold damage.
The trucking threat is of particular concern in the Buffalo area, says Schumer, since more trucks pass through Western New York than any other area in the state. A total of 4.9 million trucks use area Thruway exits, and an estimated 340,000 of these carry toxic materials that could be used to create terrorist weaponry.
"Since 9/11, our motto has to be that we can't be too careful," Schumer said at a news conference in Cheektowaga last week. His plan is, as yet, only suggestions and not legislation. The main points:
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would begin conducting
background checks on all drivers applying for state commercial driver's licenses.
The background checks should start with hazardous materials drivers. All trucks
that carry hazardous materials would be equipped with a Global Positioning System
to track their movement in the event of a terrorist attack.
The TSA would require hazmat shippers to register trucking plans with the agency.
The plans would be similar to flight plans that airplanes need to file. This
would make it easier to know if a hazardous materials shipment went off course.
The trucking industry would continue to seek out new developments in security
technology, such as panic buttons for the driver to send out an alarm if the
truck is hijacked, or engine kill switches on vehicles carrying hazardous materials.
GPS systems cost only $75 to $100 per truck and would provide a benefit that would greatly outweigh this small cost, Schumer said. Technologies such as these are already in place in Brazil, the senator noted, and have resulted in the recovery of $500 million worth of stolen freight,. "If Brazil can protect its trucks, I am sure the United States can do the same. Developing new technologies will ensure that our truck fleets are safe and one more weapon will be taken out of the terrorists arsenal," added Schumer.
There were, however, some negative responses to the plan. Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), agreed with the need for greater security for trucks but pointed out that the plan might not work as well as envisioned. "There are some 800,000 hazmat shipments a day in the United States," Spencer said, "and 300,000 of those are carrying gasoline into every community in the country. How would you know which of those trucks is off-route? For example, an accident or bad weather could cause a truck to be off-route," he said. "When would the alarm go off in such a case?
"We should be thinking about the quality of the truck driver through professional training related to the potential of trucks as terrorist weapons and providing a far greater level of scrutiny to who has access to trucks to start with," he told OOIDA senior editor Dick Larsen.
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