BEFORE THE
COMMERCIAL DRIVER'S LICENSE PROGRAM
It is widely recognized that driving certain commercial motor vehicles
(CMVs) requires special skills and knowledge. Prior to implementation
of the Commercial Driver's License (CDL) Program, in a number of
States and the District of Columbia, any person licensed to drive
an automobile could also legally drive a tractor-trailer or a bus.
Even in many of the states that did have a classified licensing
system, a person was not skills tested in a representative vehicle.
As a result, many drivers were operating motor vehicles that they
may not have been qualified to drive. In addition, many drivers
were able to obtain driver's licenses from more than one State and
hide or spread convictions among several driving records and continue
to drive.
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COMMERCIAL MOTOR
VEHICLE SAFETY ACT OF 1986
The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety
Act of 1986 was signed into law on October 27, 1986. The goal of
the Act is to improve highway safety by ensuring that drivers of
large trucks and buses are qualified to operate those vehicles and
to remove unsafe and unqualified drivers from the highways. The
Act retained the State's right to issue a driver's license, but
established minimum national standards which States must meet when
licensing CMV drivers.
The Act corrects the situation existing
prior to 1986 by making it illegal to hold more than one license
and by requiring States to adopt testing and licensing standards
for truck and bus drivers to check a person's ability to operate
the type of vehicle he/she plans to operate.
It is important to note that the Act
does not require drivers to obtain a separate Federal license; it
merely required States to upgrade their existing testing and licensing
programs, if necessary, to conform with the Federal minimum standards.
The CDL program places requirements
on the CMV driver, the employing motor carrier and the States.
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THE DRIVER
Drivers have been required to have
a CDL in order to drive a CMV since April 1, 1992.
The Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) has developed and issued standards for testing and licensing
CMV drivers. Among other things, the standards require States to
issue CDLs to their CMV drivers only after the driver passes knowledge
and skills tests administered by the State related to the type of
vehicle to be operated. Drivers need CDLs if they are in interstate,
intrastate, or foreign commerce and drive a vehicle that meets one
of the following definitions of a CMV:
Classes of License:
The Federal standard requires States
to issue a CDL to drivers according to the following license classifications:
Class A -- Any combination of
vehicles with a GCWR of 26,001 or more pounds provided the GVWR
of the vehicle(s) being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
Class B -- Any single vehicle
with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing
a vehicle not in excess of 10,000 pounds GVWR.
Class C -- Any single vehicle,
or combination of vehicles, that does not meet the definition of
Class A or Class B, but is either designed to transport 16 or more
passengers, including the driver, or is placarded for hazardous
materials.
Endorsements and Restrictions:
Drivers who operate special types of
CMVs also need to pass additional tests to obtain any of the following
endorsements on their CDL:
T - Double/Triple Trailers (Knowledge test only)
P - Passenger (Knowledge and
Skills Tests)
N - Tank Vehicle (Knowledge
Test only)
H - Hazardous Materials (Knowledge
Test only)
X - Combination of Tank Vehicle
and Hazardous Materials
If a driver either fails the air brake
component of the general knowledge test or performs the skills test
in a vehicle not equipped with air brakes, the driver is issued
an air brake restriction, restricting the driver from operating
a CMV equipped with air brakes.
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THE STATES
Knowledge & Skills Tests:
States develop their own tests which
must be at least as stringent as the Federal standards. Model driver
and examiner manuals and tests have been prepared and distributed
to the States to use, if they wish.
- The general knowledge test must
contain at least 30 questions.
- To pass the knowledge tests (general
and endorsement), applicants must correctly answer at least 80
percent of the questions.
- To pass the skills test, applicants
must successfully perform all the required skills (listed in 49
CFR 383.113). The skills test must be taken in a vehicle representative
of the type of vehicle that the applicant operates or expects
to operate.
Third Party Skills Testing:
Other States, employers, training facilities,
governmental departments and agencies, and private institutions
can serve as third party skills testers for the State.
- Tests must be the same as those
given by the State.
- Examiners must meet same qualifications
as State examiners.
- States must conduct an on-site inspection
at least once a year.
- At least annually, State employees
must evaluate the programs by taking third party tests as if they
were test applicants, or by testing a sample of drivers tested
by the third party and then comparing pass/fail rates.
- The State's agreement with the third
party skills tester must allow the FHWA and the State to conduct
random examinations, inspections, and audits without prior notice.
Grandfathering Provision:
States have the option to "grandfather"
drivers with good driving records from the skills test according
to the following criteria:
Driver has a current license at time
of application; and Driver has a good driving record and previously
passed an acceptable skills test; or driver has a good driving record
in combination with certain driving experience .
"Good driving record"
means:
A driver can certify that, during the
2-year period immediately prior to applying for a CDL he/she:
- Has not had more than one license;
- Has not had any license suspended,
revoked, or canceled;
- Has not had any convictions in any
type of motor vehicle for major disqualifying offenses;
- Has not had more than one conviction
for any type of motor vehicle for serious traffic violations;
- Has not had any violation of State
or local law relating to motor vehicle traffic control arising
in connection with any traffic accident, and has no record of
an accident in which he/she was at fault.
"Driving experience" means
:
A driver can certify and provide evidence
that:
- He/she is regularly employed in
a job requiring operation of CMV, and that either:
- He/she has previously taken a behind-the-wheel
skills test in a representative vehicle; or
- He/she has operated a representative
vehicle for at least 2 years immediately preceding application
for a CDL.
Commercial Driver's License Document:
A State determines the license fee,
the license renewal cycle, most renewal procedures, and continues
to decide the age, medical and other driver qualifications of its
intrastate commercial drivers. Interstate drivers must meet the
longstanding Federal driver qualifications (49 CFR 391).
All CDLs must contain the following
information:
- The words "Commercial Driver's
License" or "CDL;"
- The driver's full name, signature,
and address;
- The driver's date of birth, sex,
and height
- Color photograph or digitized image
of the driver;
- The driver's State license number;
- The name of the issuing State;
- The date of issuance and the date
of the expiration of the license;
- The class(es) of vehicle that the
driver is authorized to driver;
- Notation of the "air brake"
restriction, if issued;
- The endorsement(s) for which the
driver has qualified;
States may issue learner's permits for purposes of behind-the-wheel
training on public highways as long as learner's permit holders
are required to be accompanied by someone with a valid CDL appropriate
for that vehicle and the learner's permits are issued for limited
time periods.
Waiver Provisions:
All active duty military drivers were
waived from the CDL requirements by the Federal Highway Administrator.
A State, at its discretion, may waive firefighters, emergency response
vehicle drivers, farmers and drivers removing snow and ice in small
communities from the CDL requirements, subject to certain conditions.
In addition, a State may also waive
the CDL knowledge and skills testing requirements for seasonal drivers
in farm-related service industries and waive certain knowledge and
skills testing requirements for drivers in remote areas of Alaska.
The drivers are issued restricted CDLs. A State can also waive the
CDL hazardous materials endorsement test requirements for part-time
drivers working for the pyrotechnics industry, subject to certain
conditions.
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OTHER REQUIREMENTS
There are a variety of other requirements
related to this legislation which affect the commercial drivers,
their employing motor carriers and the States.
Penalties:
The Federal penalty to a driver who
violates the CDL requirements is a civil penalty of up to $2,500
or, in aggravated cases, criminal penalties of up to $5,000 in fines
and/or up to 90 days in prison. An employer is also subject to a
penalty of up to $10,000, if he or she knowingly uses a driver to
operate a CMV without a valid CDL.
CDLIS Clearinghouse:
States must be connected to the Commercial
Driver's License Information System (CDLIS) and the National Driver
Register (NDR) to exchange information about CMV drivers and traffic
convictions and disqualifications. A State must use both the CDLIS
and NDR to check a driver's record and the CDLIS to make certain
that the applicant does not already have a CDL. Employing motor
carriers also have access to the CDLIS.
BAC Standards:
The FHWA has also established 0.04%
as the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level at or above which
a CMV driver is deemed to be driving under the influence of alcohol
and subject to the disqualification sanctions in the Act. States
maintain a BAC level between .08% and .10% for non-CMV drivers.
Employer Notifications:
Within 30 days of a conviction for
any traffic violation, except parking, a driver must notify his/her
employer, regardless of the nature of the violation or the type
of vehicle which was driven at the time.
If a driver's license is suspended,
revoked, canceled, or if he/she is disqualified from driving, his/her
employer must be notified. The notification must be made by the
end of the next business day following receipt of the notice of
the suspension, revocation, cancellation, lost privilege or disqualification.
Employers may not knowingly use a driver
who has more than one license or whose license is suspended, revoked
or canceled, or is disqualified from driving. Violation of this
requirement may result in civil or criminal penalties.
Disqualifications:
- For conviction while driving a CMV
, drivers must be disqualified and lose their privilege to drive
for 60 to 120 days:
- Two or more serious traffic violations
within a 3-year period. These include excessive speeding, reckless
driving, improper or erratic lane changes, following the vehicle
ahead too closely, and traffic offenses in connection with fatal
traffic accidents 90 days to 5 years.
- One or more violations of an out-of-service
order within a 10-year period.1 Year
- Driving under the influence of a
controlled substance or alcohol; or
- Leaving the scene of an accident;
or Using a CMV to commit a felony.3 Years:
- Any of the 1-year offenses while
operating a CMV that is placarded for hazardous materials. Life
- Second offense of any of the 1-year
or 3-year offenses; or Using a CMV to commit a felony involving
manufacturing, distributing, or dispensing controlled substances.
- States have the option to reduce
certain lifetime disqualifications to a minimum disqualification
period of 10 years if the driver completes a driver rehabilitation
program approved by the State.
- If a CDL holder is disqualified
from operating a CMV, the State may issue him/her a license to
operate non-CMVs. Drivers who are disqualified from operating
a CMV can not be issued a "conditional" or "hardship"
CDL or any other type of limited driving privileges to continue
driving a CMV.
- For disqualification purposes, convictions
for out-of-state violations will be treated the same as convictions
for violations that are committed in the home State. The CDLIS
will ensure that convictions a driver receives outside his or
her home State are transmitted to the home State so that the disqualifications
can be applied.
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CURRENT STATUS
OF THE CDL PROGRAM
Over 8 millions drivers have passed
the knowledge and skills tests and obtained a CDL. Approximately
11 percent of these CDL drivers have been disqualified at least
once during the period of April 1992 through June 1996.
Building on the success of the CDL
program, the FHWA is exploring ways to enhance and improve the effectiveness
of the CDL program. Some of the current enhancements and future
enhancements being considered include:
Current:
- Driver Data Exchange With Canada
And Mexico.
- CDL Judicial Outreach Project (JOP).
Future:
- Graduated Commercial Licenses.
- Third Party CDL Knowledge Testing.
- Merging Medical Fitness Determination
Into CDL Process.
- Simulator Validation for Training
& Testing.
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Evaluating
Commercial Driver's License Program Vulnerabilities
A
study of the states of Illinois and Florida
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