FMCSA announces random drug and alcohol testing rates for truckers in 2024

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) has announced the random drug and alcohol testing rates for truckers in 2024.

U.S. Department of Transportation operating agencies, including the FMCSA, recently released the annual minimum drug and alcohol random testing rates, effective January 1, 2024. This rate is determined by the reported violation rate for the entire industry.

The FMCSA’s 2024 Random Drug Testing Rate is 50%.

The FMCSA’s 2024 Random Alcohol Testing Rate is 10%.

The random drug and alcohol testing rates remain unchanged since 2020, when the Random Drug Testing Rate increased from 25% to 50%.

The FMCSA is required to increase the random drug test rate from 25% to 50% following any calendar year during which the reported positive drug test rate is equal to or greater than 1.0%. This requirement was laid out in a 2001 FMCSA Final Rule entitled “Controlled Substances and Alcohol Use and Testing.”

The FMCSA said prior to the 2020 testing rate increase that the positive rate for controlled substances random testing in 2018 was 1%, up from an estimated positive drug usage rate of 0.7% in 2016 and 0.8% in 2017.

In order for the random drug testing rate to decrease from 50% to 25% for all driver positions, the violation rate must be less than 1.0 percent but equal to or greater than 0.5 percent for two consecutive calendar years.

The FMCSA’s estimated positive usage rate for drugs in 2021 is 1.2 percent. The report containing the 2022 usage rate hasn’t yet been released.