Trucking companies are asleep at the wheel when it comes to preparation for terrorist attacks.
(PRWEB) August 28, 2005 -- Poor driver screening, drug and alcohol addicted drivers, truck equipment abandonment along with a host of other security breaches plaque the trucking community and have left the industry and the nation as a whole in grave and imminent peril.
Terry M. Evans, CEO of Fleet Defender Consulting Services, LLC reports trucking companies nationwide are experiencing a severe driver shortage and, as a result, some are feeling compelled to hire anyone with a CDL (commercial drivers license) regardless of background or history. Convicted felons, drug addicts, and the dredges of society have found a home in the trucking industry.
?People who are generally unemployable are getting CDL licenses and are now driving the nation's highways piloting 80,000 lb. big rigs throughout every community in America," said Evans. ?Given that a coordinated terrorist attack using trucks would cripple the country, it is absolutely bizarre that we have laid out our highways as a welcome mat for terrorists.?
Fleet Defender strongly advocates a centralized processing bank for commercial drivers where issues such as failed drug testing would result in license suspension. Fleet Defender has raised numerous other concerns including falsification of licenses and identity theft as reasons to extend finger printing to all commercial driver applicants. Currently, only those drivers requesting HazMat endorsement are finger printed.
?We are in crisis mode at Fleet Defender and view this as a national emergency.? states Evans. Mr. Evans was recently a featured guest on the Fox News radio affiliate WMET ?Code Red? program located in Washington, DC.
?I had hoped speaking in the nation's capital would draw some government attention to this crisis, however none of our elected officials have contacted me or offered any assistance.? reports CEO Evans. ?We are virtually a lone voice, with limited funding, sounding the alarm and desperately trying to wake the country to this impending emergency.?