Dusting Truckers’ Drug Study: Co-Author Refutes OOIDA Critics
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) refutes a recent report by the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) regarding drug testing methods in the trucking industry.
UCA, located in Conway, Arkansas, conducted the study for the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security, also known as the Trucking Alliance (TA).
The study claims that the US Department of Transportation underreports the actual use of hard drugs by professional truck drivers.
OOIDA, through its research and education arm, the Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association Foundation (OOFI), states that “the reliability, validity, and ultimately the findings of the unevaluated report by TA peers are highly questionable. In fact, the research only proves that TA member drivers have historically used more cocaine than marijuana.
Doug Voss, professor of logistics and supply chain management at UCA in Conway, co-authored the study and rebutted the OOFI criticism.
“We appreciate the review of our report by OOIDA/OOFI,” Voss wrote in an email to The truck driver. “Unfortunately, OOFI did not carefully review our previous work or the current report and ultimately created a nameless and faceless document that argues semantics and ignores accepted research standards.”
The study aimed to compare pre-employment urine and hair drug test results collected from the AT with urine drug test results from the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse ( DAC) of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which began operations in September 2020.
The study compared 1,429,842 pre-employment urine drug test results of truck drivers reported by the DAC with 593,832 urine and hair test results submitted by carriers in the TA.
The UCA researchers found that:
- Trucking Alliance drivers are less likely to use illegal drugs than the national population of truck drivers. They passed their urine drug tests 269% more frequently than clearinghouse drivers.
- However, among Trucking Alliance drivers who were disqualified for failing their hair test, cocaine was identified 16.20% more frequently and opioids were identified 14.34% more frequently than test results for CAD urine.
- Researchers found statistical evidence that urine tests are effective at detecting marijuana, while hair tests detect marijuana, but also a higher percentage of harder drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and opioids .
- The seriousness of this issue is compounded by the discovery that an additional 58,910 DAC pilots would likely have been disqualified in 2020, had the pilots undergone hair testing.
In its rebuttal, OOFI said, “UCA’s study lacks the very foundations of a worthwhile and reliable research effort. The study does not include any analysis, demographic information, literature review, hypothesis or even methodology. Peer review is a key part of any good research project in order to properly assess and verify the results. UCA provides limited information and yet expects the reader to accept its findings with blind faith.
