In July 2007, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published the results of its 2005 Drug and Alcohol Survey. A commercial truck driver is in violation of  FMCSA regulations when the BAC is greater than .02. Drivers testing at this level are not permitted to perform “safety-sensitive functions”, which includes driving, for at least 24 hours. A driver whose BAC exceeds .04 may not return to duty without submitting to further testing. Drivers are also tested for marijuana, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and PCP.

The FMCSA reviewed the results of random drug and alcohol tests performed in 2005 of 117,000 truck drivers. Of that number, 1.7 percent failed the test for controlled substances and .2% failed the alcohol test. These results are simliar to the results reported for 2002 through 2004. Based on this information, the FMCSA will continue to require 50% of commercial truck drivers to undergo random drug testing and 10% to undergo testing for alcohol.

A summary of this survey may be found at the FMCSA website.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Truck Safety Regulations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.