Drug Test Rate Cut to 25%
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it has lowered the minimum random drug-testing rate for truck drivers to 25% from 50% for 2016, a decision expected to save the industry millions of dollars in operational expenses.
Trucking executives have called for the 25% rate, noting they had met the criteria to qualify for it, and because the Department of Transportation had set 25% rates for its agencies overseeing the railroad, aviation, maritime and transit industries.
According to FMCSA, the 25% rate would result in an estimated $50 million in savings annually for carriers. American Trucking Associations praised the agency’s announcement.
“The industry has met the performance standard and, to his credit, Acting [FMCSA] Administrator Scott Darling used his discretion and made the right decision to lower the rate,” ATA’s chief of national advocacy, Dave Osiecki, told Transport Topics.
“This announcement is an important step that will immediately reduce regulatory and cost burdens for motor carriers,” added Rob Abbott, ATA’s vice president of safety policy, Abbott noted the trucking federation advocated for mandatory drug and alcohol testing, and it petitioned to impose mandatory testing before it was required in 1995. ATA noted that carriers may choose to test at a rate higher than 25% in 2016.
Darling said he issued the Dec. 21 announcement after the positive rate for random drug testing fell below a 1% threshold for three consecutive years: 2011, 2012 and 2013.
In 2013, FMCSA’s most recent survey based on drug-test results from 1,654 motor carriers with more than 497,000 commercial drivers estimated a positive test rate of 0.7%. In the 2012 and 2011 surveys, the estimated results were 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively.
An FMCSA spokesman told TT the agency would not comment beyond a notice posted on the agency’s website and in the Federal Register announcing the rate change.
According to the notice, the FMCSA administrator has the discretion to choose to lower the minimum annual random drug testing percentage rate to 25% when industrywide random positive rates have been less than 1% for two consecutive years.
The new rate matches the ones enforced by agencies with oversight of transportation modes besides trucks. DOT, acknowledging the 25% rate still serves as a deterrent from drug use, lowered the testing rates for other transportation sub-agencies, such as the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Coast Guard, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.
FMCSA added that the minimum annual percentage rate for random alcohol testing will remain at 10%.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association also praised FMCSA’s announcement.
“The common practice with FMCSA is to treat every professional driver as if they were a potential menace. That has never made sense from the perspective of addressing safety or allocating scarce resources,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer said in a statement. “We have long advocated a complete exemption for safe drivers who have accumulated millions of miles. Realistically, how many times should someone be asked for a drug test? Drivers feel buried with regulations, most of which don’t make sense. We need to be moving in the direction of rewarding safe operation. Drivers are the key. The rewards should start right there.”
Under the recently enacted FAST Act transportation-funding law, trucking companies will be able to rely on hair testing as an alternative to urinalysis for pre-employment screening one year from now. The new highway law requires DOT to adopt the standards for hair testing the Department of Health and Human Services establishes within a year. Studies have shown that hair samples have the potential of identifying drug use as far back as 90 days, which is longer than urine samples.
