Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks - DUI or failed drug test

Truck drivers who have a positive drug or alcohol test and find themselves in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse will begin having their licenses downgraded after a final rule from the agency takes effect.

That rule will be published in the Federal Register Thursday, Oct. 7. With it, FMCSA is amending its regulations to establish requirements for state driver’s licensing agencies (SDLAs) to access and use information in the Clearinghouse.

Under the new rule, which will be effective as of Nov. 8, 2021 – with a state compliance date of Nov. 18, 2024 – states will be barred from issuing, renewing, upgrading or transferring a CDL or commercial learner’s permit for any driver prohibited from driving a commercial vehicle due to one or more drug or alcohol violations.

Additionally, states will be required to remove the CLP or CDL privilege from the license of drivers subject to the CMV driving prohibition, resulting in a downgrade of the license until the driver completes return-to-duty requirements.

By removing the commercial driving privilege from licenses, the rule will also allow all enforcement officers to easily identify prohibited drivers by conducting a license check during a traffic stop or other roadside intervention/inspection.

FMCSA said the rule will ensure that drivers with drug and alcohol violations don’t operate commercial vehicles until they complete their return-to-duty process.

Currently, most state agencies don't receive "drug and alcohol program violation information about CDL or CLP holders licensed in their state,” the agency said in its rule. State agencies are thus “unaware when a CMV operator is subject to the driving prohibition set forth in 49 CFR 382.501(a), and the CMV operator continues to hold a valid CDL or CLP despite the driving prohibition.”

[Related: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/14897453/drivers-who-fail-a-drug-test-could-go-months-before-getting-noticed-in-fmcsa-database" rel="nofollow - Drivers who fail a drug test could go months before getting noticed in FMCSA database ]

The agency added that the rule “closes that knowledge gap," giving state agencies the ability "to determine whether CMV drivers licensed in their state are subject to FMCSA’s CMV driving prohibition.”

Trucking's hand-wringing over the Clearinghouse

While the rule will help get more truck drivers with drug and alcohol problems off the road quicker than the current system, which most in the industry agree is a good thing, there has been some hand-wringing in the industry about the number of drivers already sidelined due to the Clearinghouse.

At the Truckload Carriers Association’s Truckload 2021 annual convention, a question from the audience aimed at a panel of trucking company execs asked about the follow-on effects of FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, given more than 100,000 positive tests logged there over its nearly two-year existence. A relative few of those drivers have completed documented return-to-duty procedures, as the questioner noted, adding: “I’m assuming Amazon loves us to keep letting these drivers go.”

Roll the die and take your chances these days.

A secondary ruling was in the new rules changes, Peripheral Vision was allowed to a 70 Degree level, that has since been changed as well requiring a greater field of vision peripherally, I do not have the numbers off hand.

Quote:
"If you can’t keep your drinking confined to your off work time or have to get high, I have no sympathy for you."

Over the years, I had a few people that worked under me, that had a positive test. Some are still working (and still driving CMVs).

greed and corruption, that led to reducing the standards(tests and ability) to allow ANYONE to drive a 'big rig'. Case to prove.....lookup the Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge 'accident' where a trucker HIT the bridge with his dumptrailer UP......

BTW, word is, he's STILL driving today...

Actually, I can see how that could happen.

Back in the 60's, a friend of my Dad's (who raised certified birdsfoot trefoil seed) dumped a load with his dump truck and headed home on the interstate near his house. He had forgot to take the PTO out of gear. He stuffed his jacket down in front of the seat, which pushed the lever, raising the box. He hit an overpass with the raised box and broke his neck. He was paralyzed from the neck down. he only lived a couple years after the accident.

"If work interferes with your drinking it must be a problem"

I agree Random my A$$: many years ago when I still delivering fuel, I was picked for the random test every 1/4 for three times in a row. I gave the "safety director" My thoughts on their "random" picks. I was picked because they knew I'd pass where some others were questionable. I was never again "picked" for the duration that I was at that company.