More on the CDL physical requirements.

Billy's earlier post on this issue brought out many different views on how this actually is going to be applied to different classes of CDL drivers.

Here is some of the actual facts:

1) If you are a farmer transporting your own crop, meaning not for hire, if you stay within 150 miles of home, even if you cross state lines you can still be an interstate exempt driver.

2) If you are " Occasionally transporting personal property per 49 CFR part 390.3(f )" you are exempt even if going in multiple states.

3) There is NO "Grandfather" exemption if you have your license so long. It makes no difference if you have had it a week or 30 years. The physical card and reporting requirements are the same. The self certifying is required for All CDL holders


There are too many different combinations to what kind of CDL you have, or need, to go into here. I have attached a link to a good handout Iowa put out on the new law. If you go down the card it is fairly easy to see where your CDL falls in the need to have a physical on file.

The one thing is clear. ANY CDL holder has to certify his driving class before Jan. 30, 2014 if you do not your license will be down graded to non-commercial license. This is automatic. Your plastic license in your pocket means NOTHING!! It is what is on file at the state.

Also if you are required to have a physical on file it is what is at the state that counts. So if your DOT physical expires on a certain date you have to have your new physical done and on file with your state DOT BEFORE your old physical card expires. This can take a few days to a week. So do not wait until the last minute to get it done.

Here are some of my thoughts on this issue:

1) If we are going to have DOT physicals required then there does need to be a way to verify they are real not falsified. The old system had no way in it for anyone to check to see if your DOT card you carried was valid or not. Other than calling the Doctor listed on it to check if you had the physical actually done and the person checking had to have your card in hand to get that information.

2) I personally know of several drivers that faked their CDL physical Card because they can't pass the physical. One of them is in terrible health. I have told the DOT officer on the area about the guy. The officer told me he could not do anything until he caught the fellow on the road.

3) The fact that in my little world I would know of faked DOT physicals means that it is a much bigger issue nation wide.

4) For anyone that can pass the physical why not just get one and have it on file??? Mine was just done in July. Cost me $75 for two years. I do not have to worry about being exempt or not. I can legally drive wherever I want legally.

5) IF you cant pass the physical I am not sure I want to meet you driving on the road anyway. The guys I know that faked theirs scared the heck out of me.

6) Truthfully I would not mind seeing physicals and skill tests for all licenses. I see drivers everyday that should not be driving anything, even a car. I could see once every five years for all ages and then after a certain age every two years. An example of this being needed is my Father. He sometimes has double vision. He refuses to quit driving. He is a hazard. There is not a thing we can do about him. He has good days and bad days. He just goes an gets his license on a "good" day but he drives every day good or bad. The skills test would stop him from driving. He could not pass it.

7) (LAST ONE LOL) Many of the DMV clerks are confused on this law too. I would not bank on what they tell me about being exempt. You are the one that will be in the hot seat if they tell you wrong. An example of this is Dave in NY. He was told he did not need to certify since he has had his licence since before 1999. I think this is not true. He may still be exempt from the physical for some other reason but I think he needs to self certify before Jan 30, 2014 or his CDL is no longer valid. He needs to double check on this. I would hate for him to have troubles because a clerk does not understand the Federal law. This is Federally driven. So the requirements are the same nation wide.
Iowa DOT physical hand out with good information

The deal about 1999 was right in print on the form from the state. Seems like it might have been something like 9/9/1999. I don't recall. I have no idea where they got that from or what sense it makes.
I thought some things about it were ambiguous. Local DMV was little help. So, I sent it in, and maybe someday I'll find out?!

Had a friend told by the local cop "your license is cancelled". He went to the DMV with his physical stuff and got it taken care of but they didn"t send it to Lincoln.
Nebraska"s way of getting it done before the deadline. They send a notice, if you don"t take care of it before the date, they "cancel" your license. Which doesn"t mean much other than they want to see you. Boss got his done when his insurance threatened to drop him if his license stayed cancelled.
I took care of mine before I got the notice. Just went with the full unrestricted, don"t need it, but just seems a lot simpler than worrying about dragging a trailer across the line after a tractor or something.

Bob the Iowa DOT does not show any grand father clause. The law is Federal and should be the same nation wide.

Putting a grand father clause in would make the law meaningless. I would bet that half the CDL holders have had their CDL longer than the 1999 date.

I know that states like to play the game a little different but I thought this was all Federally driven with uniform laws nation wide. Leave it to the states to want to make it more difficult with different rules.

What you said makes sense, the safety aspect of it especially. I think what prompted me to post about it, was I literally knew nothing of this prior to.

NYS is the last point of contact, yet its federally mandated, I've heard nothing from them, but am not ignorant either if the FMCSA had put a bulletin out or somehow made it known, directly from them, or through the state, no problem at all. I renewed in July 2009, and at the time to renew, all that was required was the D.O.T. physical, and to present the card to the DMV agent when renewing which I did, after passing the examination with no problems, just passed another one in January 2013 with no problems. I did mistakenly believe the medical examiners card was valid for 3 years, its only 2. So in that case I let it expire even beyond that a year or so. I don't drive much lately, not the biggest fan of driving either but that can change if someone is in a jam, or what have you, I am ready to help, thats more important to me, than anything else.

With this new law or requirement, in my case for example, it prompts me to classify and certify the type of driving, which is interstate as I have hauled with a tractor trailer, not for hire though, horses to nearby Vermont. The other driving was the tandem Mack with the sileage/grain body, hauling for my long time, now ailing health, friend and farmer. So in essence, this makes people clean up their act, and insures the physical requirements are met, or action is taken.

Just caught me by surprise, though I knew my med card was expired, I did make sure to get examined and get current, now I had best not forget and make sure to record the deadline, so its done well in advance, like you said don't wait until the last minute or its on you, and I've experienced how that can go when it was no fault of my own, police, courts what have you do not care, either meet the requirements or deal with the consequences.

I was just looking through the NYSDMV website and sure enough, found it in print. I am not a big government fan. But travel across state lines is so common today, states customizing the rules just so they can justify their own existence is a real pain!
I get to within minutes of the NY/PA border weekly with a 54000# truck. I've been across the border with it once in the more than ten years since I've owned this truck.
Maybe I should go there, and when no one is looking, sneak across. I wonder if I only get half of the truck over if it counts?

I agree, when the CDL came out, that is when the feds started this, I remember the days of having licenses in numerous states, bad record in one, suspended or what have you, just get one in another state. Remember the motto, which was something revolving around getting the bad apples off the road and only having the best drivers.

At that time I was grandfathered only to have to take the test, and I did not do the take home one, I went to the office, got a perfect score and if I recall the bonus question, thought I may remember it wrong, having a college education and being in school at that time, but I do recall, it was nice not to have to take a road test again and this was a uniform federal law.

The biggest problem I see with DOT rules is people read into the rules what they want to hear.

Lets look at Dave and now Bob saying they saw something about 1999 so they do NOT have to certify.
The New York state says...
If you have a commercial driver license (CDL), Class A, B or C issued by the NYS DMV, you must certify the type of driving you do. You will be required to choose only one driving type from the four listed below.
No if and or buts about it. Do not see 1999 there anywhere. Everyone must certify.

So where is the 1999 coming from. If you read down a little you can find a section that tells you if you fit in the
"Excepted or Non-Excepted Driving"
And it says......
•you obtained your NYS CDL prior to September 9, 1999 and perform "Non-Excepted" commercial operation (except when transporting hazardous materials) in NYS only. If this applies to you, you must certify to Excepted Intrastate (EA).

Now read that again and tell me what it says.
To me it says if I got my CDL before 1999 and work as a Non-Excepted commercial driver inside the state only I can not certify as Non-Excepted; I must certify as Excepted Intrastate.
Does not say I do not need to certify; only what box I should check.

http://www.dmv.ny.gov/cdl-medcert.htm

Moving on......
I tried to tell Rusty yesterday (Even gave him the same link you posted) and will say it again.
The rules on who needs a CDL or who needs a medical card are not changing. The only thing changing is you now need to certify. And that means everyone that has a CDL. No if ands or buts. No exceptions. Every CDL holder must certify.

So what box do you check????
First chose interstate or intrastate.
This should be easy cause you can not read what you want to hear into it. You either cross state lines or you do not.

Now if you choose interstate.
You can only choose Exempt if you can answer yes to one of the questions below.

To transport school children and/or school staff between home and school;
As Federal, State or local government employees;
To transport human corpses or sick or injured persons;
Fire truck or rescue vehicle drivers during emergencies and other related activities;
Primarily in the transportation of propane winter heating fuel when responding to an emergency condition requiring immediate response such as damage to a propane gas system after a storm or flooding;
In Response to a pipeline emergency condition requiring immediate response such as a pipeline leak or rupture;
In custom harvesting on a farm or to transport farm machinery and supplies used in the custom harvesting operation to and from a farm or to transport custom harvested crops to storage or market;
Beekeeper in the seasonal transportation of bees;
Controlled and operated by a farmer, but is not a combination vehicle (power unit and towed unit), and is used to transport agricultural products, farm machinery or farm supplies (no placardable hazardous materials) to and from a farm and within 150 air-miles of the farm;
As a private motor carrier of passengers for non-business purposes ; or
To transport migrant workers.

If you can not answer yes to one of the above 100% of the time you are non exempt.

If you want to limit yourself and choose intrastate you will have to ask your state what is exempt. Each state has different rules.

Where did I say anything about not having to certify?

Like John posted above you still needed to certify, which I "think" you did. The confusing part is on the physical requirements between the different classes.

•you obtained your NYS CDL prior to September 9, 1999 and perform "Non-Excepted" commercial operation (except when transporting hazardous materials) in NYS only. If this applies to you, you must certify to Excepted Intrastate (EA).


The date just applies to that one situation. Not all of the exemptions.

All I am saying it that people are making this harder than it needs to be. The simplest thing is to just GET a DOT physical and have it on record. Then your good to go.

Billy this was a HOT topic two years ago when it was first announced. Just about all the trucking papers and organizations have ran articles about the new rules. It was a common griping point that many CDL holders talked about. So it is surprising that you never heard of it until now.

You do not "have to" certify to the lower/more restricted driving. I don't cross state lines with a truck any more, but I kept the full "non-excepted/interstate" for simplicity. Plus it was quicker as I didn't have to get a new license printed.
My boss and co-worker went with "intrastate excepted", so guess who gets to go if we need to go out of state with the truck?

I believe Dave said something yesterday that said the 1999 rule meant he did not have to certify.
I also seen you mention the deal about 1999 was right in print on the form from the state.
Thinking you were talking about the same rule as Dave; and the fact that you said you did not understated what sense it makes.......

I just assumed you felt the same way as Dave.
I am sorry if I miss read (understood) what you meant.

It would have been nice if when NY sent these notices out, they would have included all the exceptions, (the farmer within 150 miles, etc. etc. pertains to me) .

Thats what gets me, as you said it in the other post on this, I try to stay current, but when you don't drive as much, maybe I've been out of the loop, but honestly, not ignorantly, never knew any of this until a few days ago, thankfully, NYS DMV saw it fit to notify me.

quote "I would hate for him to have trouble because a clerk does not understand it" unquote.

Bingo! You hit the nail right square on the head. We can only hope that the D.O.T. enforcement officers, as well as the highway patrol, county, and local law enforcement officers ALL recieve the same schooling on the issue.

Here in Iowa I received a letter on this 2 plus years ago. I am surprised all the states did not send one out back then.

Yes this has been going on since Jan 30, 2012 and the states knew about it well before that.
What gets me is if your state did its job and was up and running on Jan 30,2012 this would only effect half the CDL holders.

Lets assume you have a 4 year CDL like me. Half of all drivers should have had their CDL renewed between Jan 2012 and Jan 2014.
The state was suppose to inform you of this new rule and have you certify as part of the license renewal process.
That only leaves half the drivers that need to do anything extra cause their license renews between Jan 2014 and Jan 2016.

I don't have a cdl, but I sure agree with your comment on testing older drivers. I have a neighbor that has trashed 3 cars in the last 3 years. All single car accidents, no insurance companies involved, paid cash for cars. He feels all his accidents were simply bad luck or something.

John T the only one that should have been out in the cold is the physical except drivers. The rest of us have had to get our physicals in the two years. That was the reason for the two waiting period.

Truthfully I think the whole thing is a mess. Why have CDLs without physicals????

Easy way to solve the problem. ALL CDL drivers have to have a DOT physicals. I do not buy the cost being a factor to the CDL holder. It does not cost much to get a DOT physical. $75-100 every two years. I pay a heck of a lot more for other things that are way less important than this.

Quit the messing around. Just make everyone that has a CDL have a DOT physical. You do not need the interstate and intrastate BS. I also think for the CDL holders that the license should be federal along with all the Commercial truck Licenses too. That way the rules and laws are the same NATION WIDE!!!

Makes too much sense.
This mess reminds me of past fun with DMV. Go in years ago to register this truck. They ask, what's the wheelbase. WHAT? That question is nowhere on the standard form!?! Well we have this special little yellow card you fill out, and certify it's the truth by signing, etc.,etc. Surprise! Isn't this fun!?

Oh!- and then you find out that NY's definition of wheelbase is different that a real wheelbase!

Yes I agree the federal government needs to step in and make a rule that everyone goes by.

In a way they have done that little by little over the years. I am sure you can remember when each state had its own rules on size; bingo stickers; and fuel tax stickers.
Then again you can thank places like Roadway and other mega big companies buying power in Washington to standardizing those rules.
Pups and 102 wide has made it real easy for some of us to make more money per mile.

For me the government could pick a size. Anything above that size needs a CDL and physical.
The reasoning is a 26,000lb farm truck with corn or a RV can both do the same damage as my commercial truck of the same size.

On the other hand I can understand exemptions for farmers and RV users that only use their truck a few months a year.

Looks like Tier 4 is good bet for some who want their licence but don't use it. Re Certify if you want to haul Haz Mat or interstate.

Please check only one Tier and complete the information below:
(See back of form for description of the different tiers and excepted drivers/industries)
 Tier 1: I operate in interstate commerce and am required to carry a valid Fed Med card pursuant to
49 CFR 391 because I do not solely operate in an excepted industry. I will contact the WI DMV whenever
I obtain a new card or when there is a change in my medical situation that results in a change to my card.
I acknowledge that my commercial privileges will be taken away if I do not comply with these requirements.
 Tier 2: I operate in interstate commerce and am not required to carry a valid Fed Med card pursuant to
49 CFR 391 because I operate in an excepted industry. I do not have to contact the WI DMV with any
medical forms unless I have a school bus endorsement.
 Tier 3: I operate in intrastate commerce and am required to carry a valid Fed Med card pursuant to
49 CFR 391 and WI Trans 327 because I do not solely operate in an excepted industry. I do not have
to contact the WI DMV with any medical forms unless I have a school bus endorsement.
 Tier 4: I operate in intrastate commerce and am not required to carry a valid Fed Med card pursuant to
49 CFR 391 and WI Trans 327 because I only operate in an excepted industry. I do not have to contact
the WI DMV with any medical forms unless I have a school bus endorsement.

I did not say I was exempt from the physical, I posted this under your post in the other post.

I still have to have the physical, got to have another one in about 6 months, but she didn't do anything except make a copy of the medical examiners certificate. But as far as which box to check, didn't seem to matter.

She said I was good to go interstate tho I never have and probably never will. I'm getting to old for this anyway I've had the license way before NY stopped calling them chauffeur's license and started calling them CDL as the Feds made them.

JD,here it is from the New York Dmv showing what is required to not have to have a physical, check the last line about be grandfathered in. Bill


Excepted (EI or EA) commerce is when you drive a CMV only for the following activities:
•to transport school children and/or school staff between home and school, or
•as a federal, state or local government employee, or
•to transport human corpses or sick or injured persons, or
•driving a fire truck or rescue vehicle during emergencies and other related activities, or
•primarily in the transportation of propane winter heating fuel in response to an emergency condition that requires an immediate response, such as damage to a propane gas system after a storm or flood, or
•in response to a pipeline emergency condition that requires an immediate response, such as a pipeline leak or rupture, or
•in custom harvesting on a farm, or

◦to transport farm machinery and supplies used in a custom harvesting operation to and from a farm, or
◦to transport custom harvested crops to storage or market.

•as a beekeeper in the seasonal transportation of bees, or
•driving a vehicle that is controlled and operated by a farmer, and

◦the vehicle is used to transport agricultural products, farm machinery or farm supplies to and from a farm and within 150 air-miles of the farm, and
◦the vehicle is not a combination vehicle (power unit and towed unit), and
◦the vehicle does not carry any hazardous materials that are required to be placarded.

•as a private motor carrier of passengers for non-business purposes, or
•to transport migrant workers (CDL holder must be age 21 or older), or
•you obtained your NYS CDL prior to September 9, 1999 and perform "Non-Excepted" commercial operation (except when transporting hazardous materials) in NYS only. If this applies to you, you must certify to Excepted Intrastate (EA).

I'm kind of torn on this whole thing, in fact on anything to do with applying Interstate Commerce regs to intrastate commerce. IOW, I don't think the Feds have any right to regulate what the states do unless there is interstate commerce involved. The States are not thinking in terms of sovereign rights any more though, they just bow to Washington and that's all there is to it.

As far as your DMV clerk and a DOT guy not being on the same page, yeah, that's a problem. All I can recommend, as a retired DOT cop, is to get what they tell you in writing and have it with you if it sounds at all hincky. I don't know how many times I ran into guys with stories about DMV telling them they were exempt or that they could do something totally bogus that made no sense. The weird thing is that sometimes when I checked the clerk admitted to giving out some nutty info that they believed was accurate. Interstate vs intrastate, CMVs vs Municipal vs RVs vs exempt Farm, registered weight vs GVWR, Ag and Markets Laws vs FMCSR vs V&T law vs what Billy Joe Jim Bob told the schmuck driver at the feed store 10 years back.......and people wonder why there are problems!

I tend to agree with you that if you can't pass a physical and you can't pass a skills test... you shouldn't be driving.
Personally I find the rules that you guys operate under to be quite foolish.
The way it is here in Nova Scotia, and has been since an eon or more... there are 8 classes of licence based on 1(semi), 2(motor coach) 3(straight truck), 4(taxi), 5(regular every day licence) 6(motor cycle) 7(learners permit) 8(farm tractor).
The system is such that all professional drivers, meaning class 4 and above ~REQUIRE~ a medical upon renewal. Nominally that is every 5 years here until you reach a certain age, then thy force it more frequently... I think two years in most cases but perhaps more frequently and at discretion in some cases, particularly for the 1/2/3 classes. This class system also cascades in that the holder of a licence can operate ~any~ vehicle of a lower class status except cycles and school buses... so a person with a one can drive anything... a three can drive straight truck, taxi, personal vehicle, etc.
The best part... there are NO exceptions. It doesn't matter if it's 'only farm use' and I 'only go 5 miles' or 'I've always been driving semi' They do occasionally grandfather people into the system when they make rule changes but other than that everyone must qualify...

Rod