More than 70 percent of all of the freight tonnage moved in the U.S. goes on trucks, an industry that must be focused on safety. It has even regulated its own industry by proposing and initiating numerous safety improvements. The inclusion of hair as an alternative testing specimen in federally mandated testing programs is one charge being led by the trucking industry. In 1991, the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act was passed, requiring Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies to implement drug and alcohol testing of safety-sensitive transportation employees. Hair testing can detect repetitive drug use over a period of several months. The number of accidents on federal roads across Brazil was reduced more than 38 percent when hair testing became a requirement for truck, taxi or bus drivers.
