Physical Qualifications For CDL Holders

Beginning January 30, 2014, changes to the driver medical certification process will go into effect.

Currently, all carriers are responsible for tracking the expiration of medical cards for their drivers. If a Fed Med card expires, the company usually reminds the driver to get a medical exam and get a new card.

By January 2014, the states will be required to take this over and centralize tracking of which drivers are maintaining a valid Fed Med card.  If the state’s DMV doesn’t have a card on file for a driver, they’ll suspend their license. Most states are starting this process now to ensure compliance by 2014, beginning with those who are receiving Fed Med cards and CDLs for the first time or renewing them.

According to the FMCSA, a driver is fit to operate a CMV if he or she:

A person is physically qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle if that person—

• Has no loss of a foot, a leg, a hand, or an arm, or has been granted a skill performance evaluation certificate

Has no impairment of:

• A hand or finger which interferes with prehension or power grasping; or
• An arm, foot, or leg which interferes with the ability to perform normal tasks associated with operating a commercial motor vehicle; or any other significant limb defect or limitation which interferes with the ability to perform normal tasks associated with operating a commercial motor vehicle; or has been granted a skill performance evaluation certificate

• Has no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus currently requiring insulin for control

 

• Has no current clinical diagnosis of myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, coronary insufficiency, thrombosis, or any other cardiovascular disease of a variety known to be accompanied by syncope, dyspnea, collapse, or congestive cardiac failure

 

• Has no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of a respiratory dysfunction likely to interfere with his/her ability to control and drive a commercial motor vehicle safely

 

• Has no current clinical diagnosis of high blood pressure likely to interfere with his/her ability to operate a commercial motor vehicle safely;

• Has no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of rheumatic, arthritic, orthopedic, muscular, neuromuscular, or vascular disease which interferes with his/her ability to control and operate a commercial motor vehicle safely;(8) Has no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of epilepsy or any other condition which is likely to cause loss of consciousness or any loss of ability to control a commercial motor vehicle

 

• Has no mental, nervous, organic, or functional disease or psychiatric disorder likely to interfere with his/her ability to drive a commercial motor vehicle safely

 

• Has distant visual acuity of at least 20/40 (Snellen) in each eye without corrective lenses or visual acuity separately corrected to 20/40 (Snellen) or better with corrective lenses, distant binocular acuity of at least 20/40 (Snellen) in both eyes with or without corrective lenses, field of vision of at least 70° in the horizontal Meridian in each eye, and the ability to recognize the colors of traffic signals and devices showing standard red, green, and amber

• First perceives a forced whispered voice in the better ear at not less than 5 feet with or without the use of a hearing aid or, if tested by use of an audiometric device, does not have an average hearing loss in the better ear greater than 40 decibels at 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 2,000 Hz with or without a hearing aid when the audiometric device is calibrated to American National Standard (formerly ASA Standard) Z24.5—1951

 

• Does not use any drug or substance identified in 21 CFR 1308.11 Schedule I, an amphetamine, a narcotic, or other habit-forming drug.

 

• Does not use any non-Schedule I drug or substance that is identified in the other Schedules in 21 part 1308 except when the use is prescribed by a licensed medical practitioner, as defined in §382.107, who is familiar with the driver’s medical history and has advised the driver that the substance will not adversely affect the driver’s ability to safely operate a commercial motor vehicle.

 

• Has no current clinical diagnosis of alcoholism.