More Restrictive Medical Requirements Coming
Posted on January 20, 2010
Filed Under DRIVER QUALIFICATION, IN THE NEWS
Here is an excellent article from “Today’s Trucking.com”, which is a Canadian trucking website. The FMCSA has been working on a rulemaking, which will probably be released in the next 6 months. This proposed rulemaking will make the medical requirements for being a commercial driver more restrictive. One of the items expected to be in the rulemaking is some type of test for sleep apnea, which is the condition where sleep is continually interrupted by restricted or a blocked nose and throat. According to the article, this type of condition is most typically found in overweight males, usually having a neck size of 17 or more, and/or a Body Mass Index of 25 or higher.
It is unknown how the FMCSA will regulate the sleep apnea condition, but it seems like something is coming. For those of you unfamiliar with the rulemaking process, first there is a “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking”. FMCSA lays out its proposed changes to the regulations, and gives everyone a number of months to comment on the rule. It then issues a Final Rule some time shortly thereafter. What happens to the comments? Usually nothing. FMCSA will read them, but ultimately, they do whatever they want to do in issuing the Final Rule. Generally, the comments have more to do with political considerations than anything else. For example, if Billy Big Rigger from Kankakee writes in stating he thinks the rule is a bad idea, no matter how well written and sourced his comment is, it’s going in the trash can. If the insurance lobby, or the American Trucking Association writes in, FMCSA might take that seriously.
My gut instinct on this is that yet another regulation which is not necessary. Total truck related fatalities have been dropping over the past several years. I am not convinced that sleep apnea is a dangerous epidemic requiring government intervention. For that matter, how is sleep apnea defined, exactly? I have a 17.5 neck, a BMI of 29, and I snore. So does that mean I have sleep apnea? I don’t fall asleep behind the wheel, but it sounds like if I went for a CDL, I’d end up wearing an expensive CPAP mask. That would probably make my wife happy, but I highly doubt it would make me a safer driver.
Well, there’s nothing in writing yet, no proposed rulemaking has been made yet, but it’s probably coming. Stay tuned.
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