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clearinghouse will impact truck drivers
You have likely heard about the upcoming new change affecting the trucking industry. The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse has been in the works for many years, and will finally go into effect in January 2020. The database is designed to address the detection of disqualified drivers, therefore, CDL drivers need to register for the Clearinghouse to be eligible for new employment with carriers. Here’s how Clearinghouse will impact truck drivers, and how they need to act in preparation for it.

What is the Clearinghouse?

The Clearinghouse is a planned database of positive DOT drug and alcohol test results. It will not contain historical data—it only starts collecting data from January 6, 2020 onward. The database was meant to address a major loophole in the detection of disqualified drivers. Technically, if a CDL driver fails or refuses a drug and alcohol test, they are supposed to be disqualified from operating a commercial motor vehicle. Currently though, a driver can bypass this system. If they fail a test by a carrier, other carriers may not know about this and can still hire them. The average rate of drug test failure is only about 2%. Even though very few drivers fail drug tests, the Clearinghouse will contain violation data about all CDL drivers. The Clearinghouse affects all commercial truck drivers, owner operators, and motor carriers.

How does Clearinghouse work?

The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) will manage the secure portal where all concerned parties will have access to data about drug and alcohol violations. Drivers can register on the Clearinghouse, although they’re not technically required to. If drivers register, they will have access to their own data for free.

Drivers are also required to provide consent for companies attempting to access their data.

The Clearinghouse will feature an electronic consent feature for this purpose. Motor carriers, state drivers licensing agencies, medical review officers, and substance abuse professionals will also be involved with the system. What’s important to note is that CDL drivers can’t really bypass Clearinghouse even if they don’t register. Whether you register or not, violation data about you will be on there if it exists. If you’re not registered you just can’t see it, and you can’t consent to carriers using the data to hire you.

How Clearinghouse will impact truck drivers

Once CDL drivers are registered on the Clearinghouse, motor carriers can run two types of queries, or requests for data. The first is pre-employment full queries and is a request for a full record of violation data. As the name suggests, carriers are required to make this query before a driver can be hired by their company to operate a commercial motor vehicle. Once carriers make the query, drivers can give their consent to the data on the Clearinghouse portal.

Without drivers giving their consent to the data, carriers are not legally allowed to hire that driver.

Carriers can also make a limited query, which is more like an annual review of their current driver to ensure they are in compliance. Carriers are required to make a limited query once a year, although some may elect to make it more often. Drivers don’t have to give consent for the limited query through the Clearinghouse portal. Instead, drivers give their consent for the limited query to the carrier based on the carrier’s own discretion and paperwork.

What do truck drivers need to do next?

Truck drivers should register for the Clearinghouse by January 6, 2020, especially if they are searching for a new job. Registration isn’t technically required for all CDL drivers, but it is needed if they’re looking for a new job. Registration simply makes the violation data available to you and to carriers looking to hire you.

It’s safe to say that if a driver doesn’t register, they won’t be able to be hired for a new driving job.

There is no renewal required after a driver registers. If drivers are in the hiring process, they’ll have to log on to the Clearinghouse and provide their consent to carriers looking to access their data. While there is no requirement to provide your consent quickly, it’s in your best interest to do so quickly to be considered for employment. Finally, drivers will need to sign consent forms for the limited query, which should be provided by their motor carriers.

The requirements are slightly more complicated for owner-operators, since they serve as their own bosses.

Basically, owner operators are subject to the regulations for both drivers and employers.

They’ll have to designate a consortia or third party administrator who must also be registered. The requirements for owner operators vary slightly depending on whose authority they are operating under. If they’re operating under a carrier’s authority, the carrier takes on more of the responsibilities.

Drivers can register for the Clearinghouse by visiting the Clearinghouse website. There are also helpful FAQs and a helpful timeline on the website. It may be best to select email as a preferred method of contact. If you don’t, the FMCSA will send correspondence via snail mail, which can hamper the speed of your job search and hiring process. Being registered in the Clearinghouse will make job hunting easier for CDL drivers.

Interested in learning more?

Drive My Way partnered with DriverReach to produce an ondemand webinar that provides additional information about how the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse will impact truck drivers.

Watch the Webinar

drug testing

By the end of September, the FMCSA publishes a final rule to establish a central database featuring drug testing results from company drivers and owner-operators, writes LiveTrucking.com.

The database is called The Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, and it will keep record of CDL permit holders who have either failed or refused a drug test. Live Trucking explained how the rule will work:

The rule mandates that carriers and owner-operators must submit positive drug tests or test refusals to the FMCSA regularly.

Drivers must give written consent to be added to the database before submitting a drug test.

Blivetrucking.comut, a refusal to do so could result in losing driving privileges.

If a drug test is positive, drivers must complete a “return-to-duty” process, which includes evaluation and monitoring by a substance abuse specialist. After completing this, the positive drug test will remain in the database for three to five years. However, if a driver fails to complete the process, a failed drug test will remain in the database forever.

That’s right, forever.

On the bright side, truck drivers can appeal a positive drug test if a possible error exists. Then, the FMCSA reviews that decision within 60 days, Live Trucking writes.

Trucking companies must annually search the database. They check for driver traffic tickets or citations related to driving under the influence.

According to the FMCSA, the regulation costs the industry $186 million annually

But, it also results in $187 million of benefits. Trucking companies spend $28 million annually for the annual mandate. In addition, they spend another $10 million in pre-employment screenings. An estimated $101 million allocates to drivers, required to undergo the return-to-duty process.

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truckinginfo.comJeremiah W. Nixon, Missouri Governor vetoes platoon program for testing automated long-haul trucks using platooning technology.

In a recent story about the governor’s veto, Heavy Duty Trucking magazine elaborated on the reasons behind it.

In a letter explaining his veto, Gov. Nixon said that establishing a pilot program for testing platooning vehicles on Missouri highways could put the public at risk. He specifically referenced an accident involving a self-driving Tesla car that led to the death of an Ohio man as an example of the danger automated driving technology could pose.

“Automated driving technology advanced significantly within the last several years. However, the long-term safety and reliability of this technology remains unproven,” Nixon stated. “That fact was tragically highlighted with the recent fatality involving a self-driving passenger vehicle.”

According to Heavy Duty Trucking, in the May 7 Tesla incident driver Joshua Brown died while using the Autopilot feature of his Tesla Model S.

A white tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla at an intersection, but the autopilot failed to “see” the vehicle and did not brake. The Autopilot’s cameras were unable to recognize the white trailer against a brightly lit sky.

However, Governor Nixon felt platooning posed an even greater risk to the public. It requires multiple large trucks to travel in tandem with little separation and synchronized braking and acceleration.

“The risks associated with automated vehicles are even greater considering the size of long-haul trucks and the catastrophic damage that could occur if the technology failed,” he stated. “Using Missouri highways as a testing ground for long-haul trucks to deploy this unproven technology is simply a risk not worth taking at this time.”

Read the full Heavy Duty Trucking story here.

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How CDL drivers are breaking the chains of sex slaveryCalifornia Attorney General Kamala Harris is backing legislation. This continues a decade-long bid to coordinate law enforcement agencies’ responses to human trafficking. Harris’s move will be welcomed by the growing number of people advocating for the eradication of human trafficking, such as Truckers Against Trafficking.

According to the article from Sacramento-based Capradio.org:

“Attorney General Harris announced March 9 that she supports AB1731 by former Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins of San Diego.”

“Human trafficking is one of the world’s most heinous and profitable criminal enterprises,” Harris said. “This legislation combats human trafficking by ensuring coordination between a wide range of agencies and partners. I applaud Speaker Emeritus Atkins for fighting this abhorrent crime.”

The bill creates a “permanent interagency task force led by the state Department of Justice.”

Harris long railed against human trafficking. As San Francisco’s district attorney in 2006, she sponsored an earlier bill that outlawed sex and labor trafficking. That measure also allowed restitution for trafficking victims and created a temporary group to report on the problem in California.

To learn how people with CDL trucking jobs are standing up against human trafficking in a big way, read Drive My Way’s feature about Truckers Against Trafficking.

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