The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) online database containing information on commercial driver license holders’ drug and alcohol violations recorded 46,000 failed drug tests during the first 10 months of its operation, reported Transport Topic News.
Reportedly marijuana was the leading failed test, with 24,000 violations discovered. There were more than 6,650 failed tests for cocaine use, and 4,280 for amphetamines. The tests were reported on the FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse which can be used by law enforcement officials, driver licensing agencies and carriers to screen a commercial driver for violations.
According to the FMCSA website, “The Clearinghouse contains records of violations of drug and alcohol prohibitions, including positive drug or alcohol test results and test refusals. When a driver completes the return-to-duty (RTD) process and follow-up testing plan, this information is also recorded in the Clearinghouse.”
“The worrying number for me is the 38,000 drivers who had a violation that haven’t completed the return-to-duty process,” said David Yessen, FMCSA’s compliance division chief. “That’s something that we will be keeping an eye on.”
Yessen shared the results of the Clearinghouse database during a virtual presentation at the American Trucking Associations’ Safety, Security and Human Resources National Conference, and urged more carriers to register with the database.
Yessen explained that there are currently 1.3 million drivers registered on the Clearinghouse database. “Ideally, that’s a number we would like to see go higher because we know that number [of carriers] is a lot higher than that,” he added.
FMCSA is reportedly asking employers to file their employee checks as soon as possible, pending the Jan. 6 inquiry deadline.
