CDL DUI Laws

As a CDL Operator...

you must always be focused behind the wheel of a vehicle, especially when off duty in a passenger car. As a professional owner operator, the last thing you want to be faced with is walking in the house and explaining to your wife and kids that you just lost your source of family income for an unplanned period of time.

It's tough enough on a family to have a husband and a father on the road more often than he is home. THE CDL DUI laws are changing and you need to be aware of the impact on your livelihood before you make a bad choice to get behind the wheel when you are intoxicated.

Currently, The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (CMVSA) has a list of eight violations/offenses that can cost you your CDL if convicted while driving a commercial vehicle. The proposed rule by the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FCMSA) in Washington D.C, would require states to suspend or revoke a commercial licenses for violations committed in any vehicle driven by the CDL operator.

The violations that can currently cause your license to be suspended include:

	Reckless Driving
	Mistakes leading to fatal accidents
	The use of a commercial vehicle to commit a felony
	Speeding
	Improper or erratic land changes
	Following too closely
	Driving a CMV without a CDL in your possession
	Driving a CMV without the proper class of CDL and/or the endorsements required from the specific vehicle group being operatoed or for the passengers or type of cargo being transported.

Though many states suspend licenses from the above infractions and other offenses such as drunken driving, excessive speeding and leaving the scene of an accident, some CDL drivers have thrown themselves to the mercy of the court claiming the revocation of their CDL would ruin their livelihood and are then allowed to take a driving course or be given probation for a set period of time.

This new rule would help eliminate loopholes such as this since it requires states to take action. There will be some logistical problems with this new rule as some states view violations differently than others - ex. A parking ticket could be a moving violation in one state and not in the other. And since truckers are often crossing state lines, this be very frustrating.

Ultimately, the goal is to keep the roads safe and make the drivers take responsibility for their actions regardless of what type of vehicle they are driving; and according to early statistics at the FMCSA, the new rule, if approved could prevent up to 500 truck-related accidents per year.-->