On May 5, 2014, several trucking organizations banded together to encourage expansion of the Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (CDLDAC), the database of truck and bus drivers’ drug and alcohol test results. The group, which includes: the nationwide American Trucking Associations (ATA), the Virginia based Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and the Maryland based Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) requested that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) add employer accounts of employees’ misuse of drugs or alcohol and employee’s self-admission of misusing drugs or alcohol.
The group insists since the database is meant to prevent drivers who have had problems with drugs or alcohol from driving, employers should have the ability to supply additional records of abuse to the database. The group says recording only positive test results, ignores other known evidence of abuse by drivers. Carriers would also be required to report “actual knowledge” of drug use by drivers. This would include the employer’s own eye witness accounts of drivers using drugs. In their letter, the group said employers should be required to: “report all instances of actual knowledge of misuse, including direct observations of misuse and acknowledgements of misuse, to the proposed clearinghouse”.
A driver’s group called the Missouri based Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) responded to the letter by stating “only positive test results should be documented”. The group went on to say: “A driver’s permanent record should not be tainted by unverifiable accusations or assertions”. The OOIDA was behind the open comment period extension to May 21, 2014.
The CDLDAC was officially announced in February of 2014. The CDLDAC would become effective late next year or early in 2016. The rule would establish a database of CDL holders who have failed or refused to take a drug or alcohol test. Carriers would be required to submit information to the database and will be required to query the database when hiring a new driver. In addition, employers would be required to query the database annually for current drivers.
The group believes capturing the eye witness accounts of drug or alcohol abuse along with the driver’s own admission of such abuse furthers the intent of the rule: to prevent drivers who abuse drugs or alcohol from seeking employment elsewhere.
To see all comments on the rule or to make a comment, visit regulations.gov and use the docket number FMCSA-2011-0031. The comment period ends May 21, 2014.
