FMCSA aims to improve driver fitness checks

Nov 25, 2008

Officials with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration outlined recent efforts to prevent medically unfit drivers from becoming highway safety risks.

The agency published an online medical examiner handbook intended to provide information and guidance to better assess driver fitness. FMCSA also has completed almost one year of a two-year research study examining motorcoach driver fatigue. Researchers are gathering empirical data on driver schedules to help bus companies better manage fatigue in driver operations, the agency said.

In addition, FMCSA said it is working on a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners and improvements to medical certification requirements for commercial driver licensing.

In related news, FMCSA held a "public listening session" recently to invite feedback on the progress of the agency's Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 initiative. The initiative was introduced in 2004 as an effort to significantly reduce large truck and bus crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Aspects of the initiative include improving the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement programs, assessing safety performance, and changing unsafe behavior early.