New Federal Safety Rules Target Medically Unfit Truck, Bus Drivers

Federal safety regulators have begun taking steps to get medically unfit truck drivers and bus operators off the road.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says it will require states to merge commerical truck and bus drivers licenses and drivers’ medical examination certificates into a single electronic record.

Linking the two will enable states to check whether drivers have met medical requirements to operate commercial vehicles.

Regulators also have proposed creating a list of medical examiners qualified to award certificates to drivers.

A government study earlier this year found hundreds of thousands of drivers operating trucks and buses even though they had qualified for medical disability payments.

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