What Is a Qualified Driver?

By Brian J Riker

With the recent discussions surrounding non-domiciled CDL drivers and English language proficiency, now is a good time to ask, are your drivers qualified?

It is increasingly difficult to hire drivers let alone good drivers. Few people seem to want to respond to calls at all hours of the day or night in all weather conditions. Many employers may be tempted to look the other way for minor things when hiring just to fill the position.

As an industry we have a bunch of criteria to meet to say someone is qualified. Besides the towing specific training and qualifications that many police agencies require (criminal check, formal training, city or county license, etc) we also have a duty to ensure the driver is legally qualified to operate the vehicle we assign to them. I will focus on those qualifications as they are governed mostly by 49 CFR Part 391, although there are a few states with unique additional requirements such as New York, which requires a tow truck endorsement on their driver license, even for trucks that would not require a commercial driver license in most other states.

The basic driver qualifications are quite simple and apply to anyone that is engaging in interstate commerce, as well as most intrastate drivers since only a few states exclude light duty trucks from these rules when operated solely intrastate. To err on the side of caution, if you use these federal regulations as a base line, your drivers will always be qualified.

If you operate an interstate commercial motor vehicle, which is any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating, or actual weight, greater than 10,000 pounds, then your drivers are subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations as below: -- Must be 21 years of age or older to engage in interstate commerce -- Must be medically qualified by a DOT approved examiner -- Must possess a valid driver license for the appropriate vehicle class -- Can by experience, training or both safely operate the vehicle -- Interstate commerce drivers (with or without a CDL) must be able to read, write and communicate in English in a manner sufficient to respond to official inquiries, read road signs, converse with the general public and make entries on official reports

To ensure you only hire qualified drivers, the FMCSA requires you, as an employer, to obtain a written application for employment that lists all their previous employers for the last 10 years. This application has specific content and wording requirements that must be met for it to be valid. You are required to investigate the last three years of employment history, including making written inquires to all DOT related employers regarding the driver’s safety performance history and controlled substance testing history.

All commercial drivers are required to self-certify their driving history during the application process and you as the employer must verify the accuracy of their certification by obtaining a driver license abstract from their licensing state, and any state(s) they have held a driver’s license in during the previous three years. You must then obtain a new license check annually, or if the driver has a CDL at least annually and within 15 days of whenever they obtain a new medical certification.

It is a requirement to perform a pre-employment road test in the same type of vehicle they will be regularly operating. There are some exceptions to this for experienced drivers, although I would never recommend hiring someone you have not road tested. The road test must evaluate specific skills including, but not limited to, backing, highway driving, coupling/uncoupling of combination vehicles, pre-trip inspection and basic control skills like parking.

If you are hiring a CDL driver you must not only have a negative pre-employment DOT drug test result prior to allowing them to drive, you also must have a full query of the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse that shows they are “not prohibited.” This is critical because if they are “prohibited,” it means they have failed a DOT drug test and are not legal to drive any commercial vehicle, even non-CDL required vehicles.

Pro-tip – When hiring someone that has had a CDL or commercial learner’s permit within the previous three years, you should also conduct a full query of them in the Clearinghouse. I have found many applicants with CDL experience looking to “take it easy” and only drive non-cdl trucks. Then, when I query the Clearinghouse, they are found to be “prohibited” and were just trying to get around the failed drug test until it drops off their record in five years. This can leave you in a bad spot as an employer if you hire them and allow them to drive your trucks while prohibited.

As the motor carrier you must maintain copies of all this information in a driver qualification file and retain the file for three years after the termination of employment so that you can prove the driver is/was qualified and can properly respond to any inquiries you receive by other motor carriers looking to hire your former driver.

In summary, proper investigation and skills assessment prior to hiring combined with regular evaluation and corrective action, when necessary, will help ensure you have qualified drivers operating your company equipment.