TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Truck attacks in the U.S. and in Europe are putting a fresh focus on how to control who has access to what can become a powerful weapon.
A simple truck is easy to get. Using it in an attack doesn't require a lot of planning and it's very hard to defend against. But now some companies that rent trucks like this are working up some defenses.
The New York attacker got the sort of truck Home Depot rents for twenty dollars an hour to help people move building supplies that are too big for their cars.
He found a bike path full of people who had no reason to even watch for a truck on a place meant for walkers and bikes.
The Arizona Trucking Association was already training rental agents on how to spot someone who might want to turn a truck from an innocent tool to a deadly weapon.
Association CEO Tony Bradley says how someone pays can be a tip-off.
"If you're paying in large sums of cash, that's suspicious. If you've got a debit card or a Visa gift card, that's suspicious."
U-Haul says to guard against terror attacks, it works with Federal and local authorities, has ways to help rental agents spot suspicious behavior and people and uses computer programs to track customers rental history--- all to reduce the chance a truck will be used for something like the attacks in New York.
