Regulation needed to test for fatigue in train engineers, truckers: Letter

Being a former commuter on Metro-North Railroad, I have been reading with great interest all the articles about the rain crash on Dec. 1, 2013 which was a very tragic event killing four passengers and injuring many many more. One of the articles mentions that federal Investigators say an undiagnosed case of sleep apnea coupled with other factors caused the engineer to fall asleep at the controls. Having been diagnosed with sleep apnea many years ago, I was prescribed a breathing machine to help me breath at night. Fortunately the disease left me, and I think it was primarily due to the fact that I lost 50 pounds!  

So, with all this in mind, what happened just one year ago this month? The Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Administration started not pursuing the regulation that would require testing for the fatigue-inducing disorder that has been blamed for deadly rail crashes in New York and New Jersey and several highway crashes.The agencies argue that it should be up to the railroad and trucking companies to decide whether to test employees.

Now, in all fairness, Metro-North, I believe, does the tests and has found that some of its engineers have sleep apnea.

But, the decision to kill the sleep apnea regulations is just one of the many actions of President Donald Trump to slash federal regulations. Trump has withdrawn or delayed hundreds of proposed regulations blathering on about how it would "help economic growth."

Here is hoping that this disregard for the safety of all Americans does not cause some of us Americans to be killed or injured due to a railroad engineer or trucker with sleep apnea falling asleep on the job. If it happens, the blame shoots right to the top and into the lap of Donald J. Trump.

John Taylor
Pleasant Valley