Medical Certificates, what a joke!

Sleep apnea causes fatigue. This is established fact.

Fatigued drivers are at higher risk for having an accident. This is established fact.

Seems to me that it follows from the above that sleep apnea increases the risk of an accident. The remedy, of course, is the CPAP machine.

 

We all have good reason to be leary of cdl physical renewals. I recently applied to a company and although I thought I was in good shape for their pre-hire physical I learned otherwise. I am female, have been driving nearly 8 years, am not overweight and thought I was fairly strong until I was asked to lift 75 pounds onto a shelf eyelevel,lifting from the floor 5 times. I managed to complete the task with some difficulty, twice, but could not complete the required 5 times. My last recertification with my previous company as with every other physical only required lifting 50 pounds from floor to waist. That I can accomplish easily,no problem. You better believe I am paranoid now! I was turned down for employment due to this, and can honestly say I dont know too many women that can lift that kind of weight, that high unless they are amazon women! I think its going to be much harder for all of us with these physicals and the new requirements these companies are demanding. Guess I'd better start lifting weights and beefing up if I want to continue truck driving. Good luck to all

 

Yep more an more companies are requiring more on there physicals now then just the basics. More and more of them are requiring you to lift and move xx lbs of weight xx number of times. Dose not matter you age or sex. You can either do it or not and if you can't you gone. Has to do with insurance claims. In order to get cheaper rates the companies are having to show that there drivers are capable of doing the job. That you can move and stack freight, Handel tarping, Pull fifth wheel locks and tandem release bars. Open doors and throw chains. If you can't then the insurance won't cover you. It also serves to weed out the ones with prier medical problems. I for one applaud this action. There are far to many drives who can not chain an entire truck up in a reasonable amount of time.

 

My dad has had sleep apnea since.... before i can even remember. He's been driving almost 42 years and the only accident he's ever had is when someone fell asleep at the wheel and came over the median to hit him head on (a four wheeler)

 

look, there are all different ways to conduct a physical, there are already rules and laws in place to take care of every problem discribed, so we don,t need more rules or laws, just enforce them!

 

I haven't read the thread yet, but I'll toss in .02 here.

I have to take FAA physicals in order to legally fly, and in addition, I have to take a DOT physical to drive commercially. They are very similar, and one easily covers all the ground the other will, unless you're after a higher level flight physical, in which case you'll be getting a MUCH more comprehensive physical (more often, too).

You'd think an FAA physical would legally double as a DOT physical (after all, they're both DOT), but we are dealing with bureaucrats, after all.

 

I have a brand new 100% valid medical card. It's one where the medical card pops out from the long form...so I also photocopied the long form with medical card attached just incase something happens to it..

But...my first one, provided by my truck driving school, was given by a quack that would have passed almost ANYONE. If i wanted to, i could forge a medical card, using his name and license number, and i bet you that if you called him to verify it, he would. cause i bet he has no records of who he actually did physicals on!

 

Why does it matter how long it takes them to chain? It's getting awfully harder to retire as time goes by... The days of guaranteed pension are nearly over and some drivers can't retire until they are in their 70's.. If they can do the job, leave them alone.. Who cares how long it takes them.

The purpose of a DOT physical is to ensure that a driver is safe around the motoring public, not so companies can save money by manipulating the system, if they wanted to do that they should have their own physical and not combine the two. Personally i think it's an unfair practice, and unless you own the company yourself it's really none of your business what other drivers can and can't do. I remember TMC making me lift a 100+LB Lumber tarp up to the top of a 13'6 load in orientation, with an aluminum ladder... The week after i got out of orientation they discontinued this practice because someone fell and was seriously injured... I still fail to see how this was an issue in the first place, considering in the real world a forklift driver has always lifted my tarps up for me.

Just one example of some silly things these companies come up with. Personally i believe that all DOT mandated physicals should be required to be done by a 3rd party to avoid this company misuse and manipulation.

 

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I was talking to my DME suppler today when i was getting a new mask and stuff for my cpap. Told her I was thinking of picking up a second MAchaine She told me respironics has a new travel cpap coming out in a couple of months 12volt accessory plug humidifier and reporting card.