RTD to Study Mandatory Drug Testing

Despite warnings that such a program may be unconstitutional, the Southern California Rapid Transit District board Thursday ordered General Manager John Dyer to explore mandatory random drug-testing of the district’s 8,941 employees.

On a 9-2 vote, the board bowed to pressure from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which has expressed concern over drug use, particularly among the district’s nearly 5,000 drivers. The supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to push for the unannounced tests.

The recent attention was sparked by a series of highly publicized bus crashes in which at least two drivers were found to have been under the influence of drugs. RTD officials have argued that drug use is not widespread but have acknowledged that recent events require that they step up efforts to eradicate it.

In the last year, 43 employees have been fired because of drug use, according to district officials. About half of those were drivers.

Dyer tried in vain to steer the board away from the study, saying such a mandatory drug program would probably be challenged in court and could expose individual board members to legal action. The RTD general manager also said he is working out final details of a drug-testing program with the United Transportation Union, which represents the drivers.

Without revealing details of that program, Dyer said there “are elements of mandatory random testing” included. He added that the program is focused on “rehabilitation, education and deterrence.”

UTU General Chairman Earl Clark, meeting with reporters soon after the vote, said the union will file suit against any drug-testing program that might violate the rights of its membership. Clark repeated his willingness to help the district get rid drug users but added, “I don’t have the right to waive the rights of my members.”

But the RTD board is clearly concerned that the district’s increasingly battered image must be improved soon.

“Every time I wake up in the morning, I can bet that RTD will be in the paper,” RTD Board President Nikolas Patsaouras complained about the recent accidents.

One published report Thursday said that, based on federal studies of accident figures, RTD safety records compare unfavorably with those of other large public transit operations. Dyer said he “violently disagrees with the conclusions” of the article, which appeared in the Herald Examiner.

The article said that, based on a comparison of collision data collected by the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration, the RTD had 7.4 accidents per 100,000 miles its buses traveled last year. That 1985 ratio was at odds with a 4.9-per-100,000-mile figure--representing 5,386 accidents--that RTD officials have cited in recent months as proof that the district is one of the safest in the nation. RTD officials said the rate so far in 1986 is 4.4 per 100,000 miles, or 4,613 accidents.

RTD safety official Joseph G. Reyes said the higher ratio is the result of measuring different quantities: Bus accidents were lumped in with claims filed as a result of the accidents. For example, a single bus collision that produced three claims in which the district was sued would be listed as four accidents instead of one.

Dyer said an outside panel of experts that will study the district’s safety program should also look at whether the RTD’s accident reporting procedures should be changed.