Driving dangerously, risking employment
Minnesotans with commercial driver's licenses who drive dangerously while off the clock risk much more than fines or higher insurance premiums: they're risking their livelihoods.
Minnesota adopted a set of federal regulations in August 2005 that tightened restrictions on commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) to reduce commercial crashes. In some instances under the new code, serious offenses in non-commercial vehicles can disqualify a driver from earning a commercial license for anywhere from 60 days to life.
Dick Norberg, a Mn/DOT program specialist in the Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations, said drivers didn't immediately understand what the changes meant. "Initially, I'd say it wasn't clear" to drivers why offenses in a personal vehicle would affect their employment, he said.
A first-time conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance in any vehicle, for instance, means a one-year disqualification for a CDL holder, the same penalty as if the driver had been operating a commercial vehicle at the time. Other non-commercial vehicle offenses that carry one-year disqualifications: refusing to be tested for DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, and using the vehicle to commit a felony.
A disqualification, Norberg said, "may mean loss of employment."
More severe disqualifications—three years or lifetime—occur as a result of many second-time or more serious offenses, such as using any vehicle in the commission of a felony involving manufacturing, distributing, or dispensing a controlled substance. That particular offense is a life disqualification without the possibility of a 10- year reinstatement, a particularly bad career move.
Even traffic violations can be cause for a disqualification period. A CDLholder gets a 60-day disqualification for racking up two convictions of any combination of the following over three years if they result in him or her losing driving privileges: speeding 15 mph or more over the posted speed limit, reckless driving, improper or erratic lane changes, following too close, or any violation in connection with a fatal accident. A third conviction in the same time span is a 120- day disqualification.
But thanks to an active transportation association network and an informative Web page, word spread of the new consequences of driving dangerously outside of the cab of a commercial vehicle. Two years later, Norberg said, drivers are well-aware of the penalties and understand that if their employment depends on a CDL, they had better stay on the friendly side of the law.
A full list of driver disqualifications and penalties is available at: www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/rules-regulations.htm
—Jim Hammerand, LTAP intern