The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations requires a motor carrier qualifying a new driver to obtain and review the motor vehicle record of the driver within 30 days of the date of hire CFR 391.23. As a Better Business Practice it is recommended that the Motor vehicle record be obtained and reviewed prior to making an offer of employment to the driver applicant.

After the driver is qualified the regulations require that at least once every 12 months that the motor carrier make an inquiry into the driving record of each driver it employs, covering at least the preceding 12 months, to the appropriate agency of every State in which the driver held a commercial motor vehicle operator’s license or permit during the time period CFR 391.25.

Effective January 30, 2015 when a driver renews a medical certification the motor carrier must obtain a new MVR for the state of licensure with the medical certification information on the MVR.

So how will a carrier verify that a driver is physically qualified? This is done by obtaining a copy of the driver’s driving record and including it in the driver’s qualification file. Do keep in mind that in addition to the current requirement that motor carriers obtain and review each driver’s driving record once a year, motor carriers will also have to make sure the driver’s record includes valid and current medical certificate/card information.

This means that every time a medical certificate/card is renewed and turned in to the driver licensing agency, the motor carrier will need to obtain a new driving record that reflects this current information and place it in the driver’s qualification file.

The motor carrier will need to take timing into account when obtaining the new MVR that reflects the driver’s current medical status. Once a driver turns in his/her medical certificate/card to the state licensing agency, the state has 10 days to enter this information into the driver’s driving record. During this time the motor carrier must keep a copy of the driver’s medical certificate/card in the driver’s qualification file. Regulations allow a motor carrier to maintain this copy of the certificate/card as proof of medical qualification for a maximum of 15 days from the date it was issued.

The original motor vehicle record that was used to qualify the driver shall be retained for the duration of employment and 3 years after termination. The motor vehicle records obtained annually after hire can be purged from the files 3 years after the date of issuance.

If a Commercial Vehicle driver had the
following violation…….                                            the likelihood of the driver
                                                                                 being in an accident is
                                                                                 increased by:

Reckless Driving violation                                           325%
Improper Turns violation                                             105%
Improper or Erratic Lane Change conviction          100%
Failure to Yield Right of Way conviction                     97%
Improper Turn conviction                                              94%
Failure to Keep in Proper Lane conviction                 91%
Improper Lane Change violation                                 78%
Failure to Yield Right of Way violation                        70%
Driving Too Fast for Conditions conviction                62%
Any conviction                                                                56%
Speeding More Than 15 Miles over Speed
Limit conviction                                                              56%
Reckless / Careless / Inattentive / Negligent
Driving conviction                                                          53%
Following too closely conviction                                50%
Improper Lane / Location conviction                        47%
Any moving violation                                                     41%
Following Too Close violation                                     40%
Speeding violation                                                        35%
Failure to Obey Traffic Control Device
violation                                                                          30%