Schumer calls for GPS installations on hazmat trucks

Aug 8, 2003 12:00 PM

New York's senator, Chuck Schumer, is calling for trucks carrying hazardous materials to be equipped with global positioning satellite systems and for carriers to register transportation plans with the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA).

"Registering trucking plans for hazmat shipments is a common sense way to make sure that these dangerous payloads are being delivered to the right place," the senator stated in a press release. "If a terrorist planned an attack using a truck carrying dangerous chemicals or fuel, authorities would quickly be able to tell that the shipment was off course, pinpoint the location of the truck, and stop the attack." Schumer made those suggestions in a letter to James Loy, head of the TSA.

The senator also supports efforts by the TSA to increase research into new technologies that could bolster the safety of the nation's truck fleet. Such technologies would include panic buttons in case a truck is hijacked, and automatic engine kill switches that could be triggered remotely if a truck were stolen or veered off its intended delivery route. He also supports federal background checks for truck drivers who haul hazardous materials.