USDOT announces random drug and alcohol test rates for truckers in 2026

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) released the minimum drug and alcohol random testing rates for safety-sensitive workers, including commercial driver’s license (CDL) drivers, in 2026.

On January 8, 2026, officials released the schedule for required random drug and alcohol testing for USDOT agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), for this year.

For 2026, the FMCSA random drug testing rate for drivers will remain at 50%. The random alcohol testing rate for drivers will also remain at 10%

The FMCSA random drug testing rates remain unchanged since 2020, when they increased from 25% to 50%.

Federal officials are 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.