FMCSA Proposes Alternative Vision Standard for Truck Drivers

In January 2021, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed a new way for drivers with poor vision in one eye to qualify for interstate trucking. The notice of proposed rulemaking, published in the Federal Register on January 12, 2021, set out an alternative vision standard that would let medical examiners, rather than FMCSA itself, decide whether these drivers were physically qualified.

The rule at the time

Under the vision standard then in force at 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10), which dated back to 1970, a driver needed distant visual acuity of at least 20/40 in each eye (with or without corrective lenses), at least 20/40 with both eyes together, a field of vision of at least 70 degrees in the horizontal meridian in each eye, and the ability to recognize the colors of traffic signals.

A driver who could not meet the acuity or field-of-vision test in one eye could not drive a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce unless FMCSA granted a vision exemption. That exemption program generally required three years of intrastate driving experience with the vision deficiency. A separate grandfather provision covered drivers from an older vision waiver study program; FMCSA put that group at about 1,900 people.

What FMCSA proposed

The proposal set up a two-step process, modeled on the alternative standard FMCSA had already adopted for insulin-treated diabetes:

• Vision evaluation. An ophthalmologist or optometrist would examine the driver and complete a new Vision Evaluation Report, Form MCSA-5871. The report would record acuity and field of vision, using a test that covers at least 120 degrees in the horizontal, and give an opinion on whether the condition was stable.
• Medical examiner decision. A certified medical examiner would then decide whether the driver met the alternative standard and FMCSA's other physical qualification standards.

To qualify, the driver would need, in the better eye, distant acuity of at least 20/40 and a field of vision of at least 70 degrees in the horizontal meridian. The driver would also need to recognize red, green and amber signal colors, have a stable vision deficiency, and have had enough time to adapt to and compensate for the change in vision.

Road test instead of three years' experience

In place of the three-year intrastate experience requirement, drivers qualifying under the alternative standard for the first time would generally have to pass a road test before driving in interstate commerce. Motor carriers would give the test under the existing road test rule in 49 CFR 391.31. Drivers would be excused from the road test if they already had three years of intrastate or excepted interstate driving with the deficiency, held a valid federal vision exemption, or were certified under the grandfather provision.

Exemption program would end

If adopted, the alternative standard would replace the federal vision exemption program. Grandfathered drivers would have one year after the effective date of any final rule to move to the new process. FMCSA said the proposal was based on recommendations from its Medical Review Board.

Comments on the proposal, docket FMCSA-2019-0049, were due by March 15, 2021. The full text is available on govinfo.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of January 2021. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.