FMCSA Issues Medical Rule Requiring Proof of Certification

By Eric Miller, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Dec. 8 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week issued a final rule requiring all interstate truck drivers to prove they have passed medical examinations and proposed a separate rule setting up a national registry of qualified examiners.

The rule would require proof of an exam to obtain and keep a commercial driver license.

The new rule, long sought by safety advocates, also will require states to merge commercial driver license records and truck drivers’ medical examination certificates into a single electronic record that law enforcement officials could check at any time.

“With this rule, we should see reduced numbers of unqualified drivers at the roadside,” said John Hill, FMCSA’s administrator.

However, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House transportation committee, criticized FMCSA for delaying the rule’s publication.

“While the agency’s steps in these final hours of the administration are good and necessary steps, much more work remains to close all the loopholes related to the medical qualifications of drivers,” Oberstar said.

The new medical exam rule technically will become effective in 60 days, but it won’t require full compliance by the states until Jan. 30, 2012.

Current federal regulations require that commercial drivers pass medical exams every two years, but in most states, drivers are required only to provide evidence of their medical certifications to their employers or when asked by roadside inspectors or law enforcement officers.

Under the new rule, drivers will be required to keep their state licensing agencies informed each time they pass their mandated medical exams, which is every two years for drivers who don’t have special medical conditions. Some drivers with medical problems are required to pass medical exams as often as every three months.

The proposed medical examiner registry would create certification standards and train and test medical personnel to ensure the examiners are qualified to conduct medical exams of truck and bus drivers.

FMCSA said it could issue a final rule on the certified-examiner registry proposal after a 60-day public comment period.

The proposed registry rule would require medical examiners to transmit electronically to FMCSA the name and identifying number of each driver given an exam.

The new driver medical requirements are intended to help prevent medically unqualified drivers from operating on the nation’s highways by providing state licensing agencies with a means of identifying interstate CDL holders who are unable to obtain a medical certificate.

FMCSA said the rule also would deter drivers from submitting falsified medical certificates because enforcement personnel would have electronic access to information about the medical certificate and the identity of the medical examiner.

It also would give law enforcement officials methods other than road inspections and compliance reviews to quickly detect patterns or problems with the source of medical certificates.

Following a critical report in July by the Government Accountability Office on the medical driver issue, Oberstar blasted FMCSA for not living up to its safety mission and for dragging its feet on the health issue.

Oberstar said in a Dec. 3 statement that he “appreciates” that FMCSA has taken steps to address the medical issue.

“Yet, I am disappointed that the administration’s progress on this issue has been so painfully slow,” Oberstar said. He said FMCSA’s rule merging drivers’ medical information with the CDL data system “was mandated nearly 10 years ago in the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999.”

The new rule covers only interstate drivers, but drivers operating within a state still would be required to certify by checking a box on a CDL application that they are not subject to the federal medical standards and medical certification requirement.

Dave Osiecki, vice president of safety, security, and operations for American Trucking Associations, called the new rule “a step in the right direction.”

“This doesn’t fundamentally change the exam; it just changes how the verification of the exam is made,” Osiecki said. “A qualified guy examines, the driver gets a certification card, gives it to the DMV, and everybody can trust the process.”

However, Osiecki said it is critical that the registry of qualified medical examiners first be put in place.

“If the merging of the medical exam and the CDL happens before the registry, then the state doesn’t have confidence that the medical certificate is valid,” Osiecki said.

After the new rule is implemented, drivers no longer will be required to carry a medical certification card in their wallets, Osiecki said.

During 2007, FMCSA and its state partners conducted more than 3.4 million roadside inspections, citing drivers with more than 145,000 violations for failing to have a medical examination certificate in their possession and issued 6,105 violations for physically unqualified drivers. Rick Craig, director of regulatory affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said the proposed medical examiners rule would help prevent “doctor shopping” and fraud, he said.