During enforcement and compliance inspections of trucks and drivers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and its state-based partners will begin conducting random verifications of driver medical cards, the agency announced Tuesday.
The purpose, it says, is to verify that a driver’s medical examination was indeed conducted and that the information on the certificate is accurate and not to evaluate the driver for “fitness to operate a CMV,” says FMCSA’s announcement.
Officers will contact the certifying medical examiner listed on a driver’s card and verify with either the medical examiner or an authorized staff member the driver’s name, driver’s date of birth, card’s date of issuance and any restrictions indicated on the medical certificate.
The goal, the agency says in the announcement, is to “eliminate the use of fraudulent [medical examiner’s certificates] and to keep medically unqualified drivers off our nation’s highways.”
