OOIDA petitions for extension on medical examiner requirement

Grain Valley, MO – The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is petitioning to extend a May 21 deadline by which truck and bus drivers must use only pre-approved providers for their medical certification exams.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration established a national registry in 2012 to track medical examiners who have specific training and testing on FMCSA’s physical qualification standards for truck and bus drivers.

FMCSA estimated that at least 20,000 registrants would be needed to provide truck and bus drivers with adequate access to approved examiners before drivers’ medical certificates expire, which is annually or every two years depending on their health status.

OOIDA claims that only 10,223 examiners had registered as of March 28. The organization is requesting that drivers be allowed to use medical examiners outside of the registry until enough have become registered.

At press time, FMCSA had not responded to the petition.