FMCSA’s medical examiner registry rule takes effect

Despite recent attempts by trucking trade groups to delay the effective date of the rule, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rule to require drivers to be medically certified by examiners approved by the agency became effective May 21.

Drivers’ current medical cards are still valid until the date shown on their certification, but when renewing their current certification — or for new drivers being certified for the first time — they must use an examiner in the agency’s registry.

FMCSA spokesperson Duane DuBruyne said May 17 that the registry has 21,600 examiners in the registry and is set to approve 4,000 more this week.

That total number — roughly 25,000 — is still about half of what FMCSA hopes to have and the number the agency’s rule said it would need to serve the 4.4 million drivers subject to the rule’s requirements.

But the agency did announce this week that an additional 27,000 examiners had started the process of being added to the registry.

CCJ sister site Overdrive‘s Trucker Tools app now includes easy access to the registry for drivers looking for an examiner. Click here to read more.

Both the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association had formally requested a delay in the rule until more examiners were added to the agency’s rolls.

However, since their requests, the agency has been on an examiner-approving spree, clearing about 15,000 examiners in the last few weeks.

The agency did in January delay a portion of the rule, requiring drivers to continue to carry paper copies of their medical certification until Jan. 30, 2015, from Jan. 30, 2014.