Chantix Drug May Adversely Affect Truck Drivers' Ability to Operate Their Vehicles
Driving a tractor trailer is a demanding position; it requires long hours and careful attention to detail, as road conditions can change in a split-second. It is important that truck drivers are alert while behind the wheel to ensure safe driving conditions and to prevent tractor trailer accidents in Missouri.
In order to make sure that commercial vehicles are safe on roadways, the federal government created the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The FMCSA created regulations that must be followed by commercial vehicles traveling in between states. The regulations set out specific guidelines for trucks, trucking companies and truck drivers.
Truck drivers, specifically, must undergo an extensive medical examination to make sure that any possible health conditions will not affect safe driving abilities. In addition to health exams, driver medications are also evaluated to ensure that harmful side effects will not impair driving ability.
The FMCSA medical exam regulation indicates the purpose of the examination is to detect the presence of physical, mental, or organic conditions of such a character and extent as to affect the driver's ability to operate a commercial motor vehicle safely. Further, the FMCSA issues advisory warnings periodically about certain medications or conditions that can adversely affect driver ability as such information becomes known to them.
The FMCSA recently issued an advisory warning about the popular smoking-cessation drug Chantix due to product liability. Through research it has been shown that the drug has serious side effects that may adversely affect commercial drivers’ ability to operate their vehicles safely.
Even though FMCSA rules defer to health-care professionals to determine if a driver is medically fit to be a truck driver, such advisories put health-care professionals on notice to examine specific items.
Chantix reportedly has actual and potential side effects that could impact safe driving in that the drug has been shown to cause severe changes in mood and behavior; it also effects psychiatric illness and can cause anxiety, nervousness, tension, depression, unusual behavior and contemplation of suicide, according to the FDA.
Chantix may help those who want to quit smoking by making nicotine withdrawal easier to handle; the drug acts at sites in the brain affected by nicotine. However, the brain can be negatively impacted by this drugs, and in a setting where a lapse of motor skills could lead to severe injury and death, like in a tractor trailer crash, it is imperative that such drug use be strictly regulated for benefit to all on the road.
If you have any questions regarding Chantix or tractor trailer accidents, you can contact an experienced St. Louis truck accident attorney at the Law Firm of Page Cagle, by calling 314.322.8515 or 1.800.500.4658. You can also email John Page, a partner at Page Cagle, at john@pagecagle.com.
