Over the next four years the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will be implementing new industry rules that govern everything from insurance to hiring practices. While many of the rules will be phased in over that four year period they cover issues, such as medical exemptions, that the industry is grappling with today.
Medical exemptions began with the allowance of CDL licensing for drivers that were visually impaired. The rules allowing licensing of drivers who don’t meet certain vision standards have been around since 1998, but in 2006 a study of the medical exemption program resulted in the current requirement of three years of intrastate driving experience with the visual deficiency. The FMSCA feels that this requirement is onerous and has tabled two new potential proposals addressing it:
- Reducing the required time driving with stable vision from three years to one year.
- Scrapping the driving experience requirement altogether.
The agency did clarify that reducing the requirement to one year would still provide enough time for accurate verification of safe driving records. Drivers seeking a vision exemption would also still be required to acquire a medical examiner’s certificate proving they are physically able to drive.
Not all states allow intrastate commercial driving for someone with a visual deficiency, however. By having a requirement at all some drivers are disqualified in one state while in another, based on federal regulations, they would be considered qualified and safe.
For states that do allow waivers, a pending rule would allow greater integration between medical examiners and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Unfortunately many states who allow the waivers are not technologically ready for this.
This is where the option of eliminating the requirement altogether comes into play. If the FMCSA does decide to propose eliminating the requirement, it doesn’t mean that anarchy will result. Under option two they would still ask that an examination by an ophthalmologist or optometrist be submitted within the last three months from the original date of the application.
Beyond Vision
Now the debate has moved beyond vision alone. In recent statements at a trucking symposium in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 7, former FMCSA administrator Annette Sandberg stated that “there is a huge erosion in the medical standards” within the agency and that it has “very little scientific evidence in the docket” to explain some of its decisions on medical condition waivers. Sandberg does not believe that there is an adequate level of certainty regarding what is or isn’t a disqualifying medical condition.
Relaxing the standards has proven to have several unintended consequences. Carriers are now responsible for deciding whether or not drivers are medically fit for the job without any regulatory assistance, leading to a decision akin to being between a rock and hard place: Hire the driver with what could be a disqualifying medical liability or reject them and open the door for a potential lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Special interest groups have become involved as well, re-writing the definition of the standard by bringing to bear exemptions they feel are covered under the ADA. With these changes and the addition of outside forces, drivers and carriers are becoming increasingly concerned about litigation and liability. This concern has led to the level of exemption that Sandberg worries about when she states that “driving a large truck typically requires all of your senses.”
No one disputes that there are capable disabled drivers out there. People who meet the qualifications for a CDL should be allowed to have one, and that is exactly where the problem lies. The rules must be streamlined to properly govern medical exemptions. The industry should be able to operate in an environment that meets regulatory requirements, removes the specter of litigation, and provides equal opportunity for all qualified drivers. Will these proposed rule changes from the FMSCA satisfy all of these requirements?
Though many of these rule changes are still a long way out, the FMCSA is currently holding listening sessions and taking comments from drivers. Add your voice to the discussion and help to shape the regulations that will govern our industry for years to come.