Watching news coverage of memorial services leading up to this weekend’s funeral for U.S. Senator John McCain brings back memories for Daphne Izer.
Izer, a Newfoundland native, met with McCain a few times over the years in his Capitol Hill office in Washington to discuss truck driver fatigue in the United States and what could be done to address the issue.
Izer, who is from Sunnyside and has been living in Maine for more than 30 years, is the founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT). Izer and her husband, Steve, started the non-profit safety organization in 1994 after their son, Jeff Izer, 17, was killed in a truck crash by a fatigued truck driver. The crash killed three other teenagers and seriously injured one more.
Izer recalls that at a time when meetings with other officials on Capitol Hill to advance PATT’s message were often hurried, McCain took the time to listen.
“He always listened and we didn’t feel rushed with him,” Izer said Thursday from her home in Maine.
“He was always very genuine and caring, and he has made a difference in this world. He was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and he worked with us along the way. He didn’t really fully commit, but he always listened and cared, and I think he tried. It’s too bad there’s not more like him down there.”
McCain died last Saturday, about a year after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 81.
McCain spent 5 ½ years in captivity as a POW in North Vietnam. He was shot down in his Skyhawk dive bomber on Oct. 26, 1967, and was taken prisoner, with fractures in his right leg and both arms. He received minimal care and was kept in wretched conditions.
Izer’s husband Steve served 20 years in the U.S. military. During one meeting, McCain thanked Steve for his service to the country. Izer said her husband was astounded at the gesture and told McCain, “Don’t thank me, look at what you’ve been through.”
“Overall, he was a great highway safety advocate throughout his tenure in the United States Senate,” Izer said. “He worked with safety advocates like myself to advance important policies that have saved lives and will continue to save lives. He has been a vocal supporter of stability control in all vehicles and had worked to ensure the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) emphasized safety above all other concerns. Senator McCain was a true patriot who could find the good even with his greatest opponents.”
On May 14, 2014, Izer was honoured at the White House in Washington as a 2014 Transportation Champion of Change in the U.S.
Izer has worked to advance truck safety to help prevent other families from suffering a similar, devastating loss such as her family endured. Since its beginning in 1994, PATT had transformed from the small Maine grassroots group created around the Izer's kitchen table into a nationally recognized organization.
Izer said starting the group and fighting for changes was therapy for her and Steve as they were trying to cope with the loss of their son.
“The only way we thought we could survive our grief and anger was by taking action to make sure other families would not have to suffer a similar loss,” Izer said.
"For those that did suffer loss and injuries, we wanted to make sure that they would have the grief and support services, and information that we desperately needed, but did not have, when we tried to navigate the post-crash process by ourselves. In a way, I guess you could say that Steve and I became involved because we had no choice. Our families needed an advocate, and if not us, then who?"
During the past 25 years, PATT has brought fatigued driving to the forefront, thus saving lives, Izer said.
“After advocating for nearly a quarter of a century, after our son Jeff was killed by a tired trucker, the FMCSA finally issued the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule in December of 2017, which will reduce the deaths and injuries resulting from fatigue-related truck crashes and will hold the trucking industry to a higher standard of safety,” she said. “The ELDs replace the paper log books, which were easily falsified.
“This technology reduces the ability of bad actors to skirt federal regulations by modernizing the practice of logging hours. The rule also helps protect truck drivers from harassment and coercion to exceed the hours they are allowed to operate.”
PATT also pushed for the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse rule, which is set to take effect in 2020.
“This will help prevent dangerous drivers who use drugs and/or alcohol while operating from getting behind the wheel again,” Izer said. “In the state of Maine, PATT got laws passed early on. A Tired Trucker Law that would hold company owners liable if it was proven a truck driver was pushed and an accident occurred killing someone. Also, the Motor Carrier Safety Unit of the state police must investigate truck crashes, not local police. There have been many more accomplishments, but I can’t recall them all.”
Izer and Steve also host the annual Newfie Picnic from her home in Maine each year attended by ex-pat Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and others, including Americans who served at the U.S. base in Argentia.
