The Sun News | 10/01/2004 | Man wants driver's... -
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Published on: 10/1/2004
Last Visited: 10/1/2004
Forrest Boone | whose family was killed by an unlicensed migrant worker
SPRING HOPE, N.C. - A man whose wife and daughter were killed in a traffic wreck involving a legal migrant worker wants the state to require such workers to have valid N.C. driver's licenses before they get behind the wheel here.
Forrest Boone's wife, Brenda Edwards Boone, and their 17-year-old daughter Brittney were in a sport utility vehicle that was struck by a fuel truck driven by a migrant worker in June 2003.
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Now, Boone wants the state to change its laws, noting that persons in North Carolina on a temporary work visa are not required to have a valid state driver's license to operate a motor vehicle.
Any farm worker who is going to operate a large vehicle should be required to have a valid commercial driver's license, Boone said.
"This isn't just a local problem, it's all over the state," Boone said.
"The biggest problem is that these people aren't qualified to be a driver.You shouldn't be driving a big truck without the proper training," said Boone, a vice president of equipment at Edwards Inc., an industrial contracting firm.
The truck that struck Boone's family weighed 13 tons.Normally, its driver would be required to have a commercial driver's license.
"This problem is totally isolated to the farm industry; other trucking companies comply with the law," Boone said.