It is one thing to operate a car or other passenger vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but it is quite another to drive a commercial vehicle in that condition. This is especially true if you are a truck driver. Think about how much larger a commercial semi truck is than your average car. They’re not called the kings of the road for nothing.
On top of just being a large sized vehicle, a truck also needs more time to brake and that requires a driver who has great reflexes. Since drinking alcohol or consuming drugs can impair reflexes, the driver is then considered to be impaired. If you consider what can happen if a fully loaded truck can cause in terms of damages if it just lightly bumps into a car, then you don’t want to know what can happen if it slammed at full speed into the same car! It is not a pretty sight, to put it mildly.
To compensate for the differences like size and ease of vehicle control, a truck driver is legally impaired with a lower BAC than a driver of a regular car would be allowed to have by law. Presently, the federal law prohibits truck drivers from operating their commercial vehicle if they have a 0.04% BAC or more. Reducing the BAC for truck drivers has had positive results and has lowered the number of accidents with trucks over the last few years.
There is a common problem among truck drivers. They have such unrealistic deadlines to keep that they fell the need to use drugs such as stimulants and marijuana to keep them awake to meet deadlines or face the possibility of being fired by the company they work for. This is dangerous since they can impair the same as alcohol. Some resort to getting meth which is said to be quite easy to find at truck stops. The blame is hard to put on one and is most likely shared between truckers and demanding schedules from the company.
It is a good thing that all truck drivers from all companies are required to undergo random testing for drugs in their system. The tests can be done at any time, including right before the driver is set to leave for a job. By accepting the Commercial Driver’s License, all truck drivers give their implied consent to drug testing and there is absolutely no reason that a refusal is allowed. If the truck driver does refuse a drug test, then they can be fired from their job or will receive a fine.
This is a situation that is extremely serious, more so than a regular DWI, simply because of the huge amount of lives at risk should an accident happen with one of these enormous “monsters”. You don’t want to have one next to you on the road, especially driven by a driver who took something to stay awake.
If you are the driver of a truck, then remember to stay safe. Get the sleep that you need and don’t give in to temptation. There are a lot of lives at stake on the road, and it’s partly your job to make sure that they stay safe.
To get the best available help with Maine DUI, you need the kind of help that you can find on this site about commercial DUI Maine.