Commercial Driver's License Standards, Requirements, and Penalties; Commercial Driver's License Program Improvements and Noncommercial Motor Vehicle Violations

The FMCSA amends its Commercial Driver's License (CDL) rules concerning disqualification of drivers to make a technical correction in response to a petition for reconsideration filed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Transport Workers Union of America, the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, and the Amalgamated Transit Union (collectively, "the Petitioners"). The technical correction provides that disqualifications for offenses committed by a CDL holder while operating a non-commercial motor vehicle (non-CMV) would be applicable only if the conviction for such offenses results in the revocation, cancellation, or suspension of the CDL holder's license or non-CMV driving privileges. The agency denies the Petitioners' request to: shorten the disqualification periods driving a non-CMV while under the influence of controlled substances or alcohol; and establish a means to disqualify foreign drivers for offenses committed in a non-CMV in the country of domicile. The FMCSA believes these issues were adequately explained in the July 31, 2002, final rule concerning the CDL program, and that the petitioners have not presented any new information that would warrant reconsideration of the agency's decisions.