Letter from the NC DOT...

How do you figure?

The way it has always been, you go to the DMV once every 4 years (give or take, depending on your state) to renew your license. You also go to the doctor to get a DOT physical every 2 years.

The way it is going to be, you go to the DMV to renew your CDL. Then, you go to the doctor when you are due for a physical....followed by another trip to the DMV to supply them with a copy of the card. 2 years later, you go for another physical, followed by another trip to the DMV.

So, instead of making 1 trip to the DMV and 2 trips to the doctor, you will now have to make the same 2 trips to the doctor, but with 3 trips to the DMV. If you change jobs and get a new physical, add another trip to the DMV.

Not to mention, since you don't have to carry the medical card, you aren't likely to have it with you to look at if you happen to forget when you are due to have another physical done.

Seriously...how hard is it to carry the card in your wallet? Fold it in half and slip it into your wallet right behind your license.

I'm glad I live in a sparsely populated area....trips to the DMV don't take more than 5-10 minutes around here. I feel sorry for people who are going to have to wait in line at the DMV for 2-3 hours each time just to comply with this BS.

 

Follow along...

Correct. Once every four years I go to the DMV to renew my CDL & bring my medical card to show them... Easy enough, I agree.

How are you figuring THREE trips to the DMV given there is one physical in the middle of a four year CDL?

Follow me, here...

I pay for my own physicals, so I do them around expiration of my CDL.

As of right now, I get my physical, bring the card to the DMV, show them & get a renewed CDL. Two years later, I get a new physical. Two years later, I get a new physical, bring the card to the DMV & get my CDL renewed.

I have to renew my CDL by Feb, this year & a physical is due. So, I go to the doctor, get a physical, they fax KY the information (per the new rules), I wait for the conformation letter, then go renew my CDL.

In two years, I get a new physical, have the doctor fax the medical card to KY, then wait for the conformation letter. No going back to the DMV until my next CDL renewal.

See where I'm coming from?

In the same respect, how hard is it to remember when your physical is due?

I, personally, like to carry as little with me as I can get away with, for various reasons. Not having to carry the medical card, to me, is Kosher with my personal policy.

Again, in KY, the medical card needs to be mailed, faxed, or emailed to the state licensing office. So, I just have the doctor's office fax it for me & wait for the conformation letter to come in the mail

 

That's fine for a person who's physical and CDL expire at the same time, but that isn't the case for the majority of drivers out here. Under the new system, if your new medical card does not find it's way to the state (and entered into their computer) before the expiration date, your license is downgraded. You're placing your livelihood in too many other people's hands...the doctors office has to send the fax. The fax has to go through. The state has to receive a LEGIBLE copy of the fax. The state employee needs to take this faxed copy from the fax machine and enter it into the system.

If the doctor forgets to send the fax...if the doctor's fax machine does not clearly scan the document.....if the state's fax machine is messed up and does not print a legible copy....if the state employee misplaces it before it gets entered....if there is a typo while entering the information....if any number of things beyond your control happen to occur, YOU LOSE YOUR LICENSE! It may happen while you're out on the road and won't know until you are pulled over for a marker light that just went out or pulled around back for a random. Now you're OOS in the middle of nowhere for driving a CMV without a valid CDL.

Screw that. Give me the #### card and let me carry it. That way I KNOW it is good, and I KNOW I have it.

Maybe YOU don't have a problem trusting everybody and their mother with your ability to earn a living...but I sure as hell don't. I want to maintain as much direct "hands on" involvement in the process as possible to ensure that things not only get done, but that they get done on time and done right. If that means having to carry an extra little virtually unnoticeable slip of paper folded up behind my license, so be it.

 

Geeze, I didn't ask for all of that. I was just explaining why *I* like the system, which was what you had asked me in the reply I quoted.

 

ALERT:

I called the number on the letter from the NCDOT today, and spoke with the lady there. A copy of a current medical card is still required to be presented to them before January 30th.

She said I could go to any NC license office and give them a copy, or make a copy of my drivers license and medical card, then fax it to them in Raleigh.

The NCDOT fax # is....919-861-3915

 

update on mine its already in the system and I had my doubts that it would get done but under a week later its in the system

 

So do you bring your med card and the long form or just the med card??

 

All they needed was a copy of the health card. No need here for the long form also you will have to print out a form to notify them if you are interstate or intrastate as well

 

No U dont need the long form with you all the time

 

a DOT physical has been required for at least 15-20 years now if not more its every 2 years required by federal law, and consider yourself lucky they notified you your CDL is in jeopardy.