Medical Certificates, what a joke!

I don't want any impared drivers on the road but tell me you have never driven while sick or sleepy. Lots of drivers do that all the time. Prozac and others like it often have few side effects and they are not "happy pills". They correct chemical imbalances in the brain.

 

When I was OTR I did drive a bit sleepy, but not day in and day out. For me it was may be once a month and only for one small stretch. Most anybody can go with out sleep for one night. It's the drivers that do it all the time, that are the problem.

As for being sick, If I'm to sick to drive I don't drive. The OTR company and my current company have never given me trouble. But, then again I don't use being sick as a way to just take time off. If I call in sick, I'm sick.

I feel that a person on any type of long term anti-depressant drug treatment shouldn't have a CDL.

Mark

 

I,m so happy that we have all these health and safety issues to force me to buy products or services that I don,t need. Go to NY,NJ,IL to get ur TWIT card(counterfiet) to make our ports safer! Everybody Knows about the HOLOCAUST under A.Hitler but U don,t hear about the number of gypsies that were murdered also, no country,including ours likes a large mobil population wandering around that it doesn,t have control of. If ur sick or have problems go to the doctor! If ur tired go to bed. If the goverment ,or public is so worried about my health they should put the scum who haven,t been toliet trained,or know how to wash their hands before handling food or other products for the public. Oh I forgot we already have rules and regs for that.

 

Um, ok?

 

I thought there was something bogus about that twic card when the company told me DHS told them that a cell phone picture was fine for it. You have to have one now to be on railroad property, supposedly.

 

You can use non-alcohol cough syrup, but the anti-histamines can make you drowsy, regardless. Its a drivers call. If she/he calls it wrong its deep kimshee time if someone gets hurt.

How many of us have seen drivers weaving into the safety lane or over the white dotted lines in the early AM hours because they were too tired to drive? I see it all the time myself. Pushing it to the limit to make time.

 

My two cents - the government over looks the big issues and works the issues that the lobby people with cash put in front of the congress and other officials.

I agree that safe drivers should be the goal, and what that takes is for this country and its people to get back to being responsible. When I see a warning sign on a cup of coffee that says "extremely hot, use with caution" - well if I want ice coffee I will ask for it, but otherwise my coffee should be "hot"! Duh.

We are becoming so dependent on big business that this crap is legislated into law.

Mark - all anti-depressants do (from what I have been told, cause I am depressed) is restores the imbalance of chemicals that are lacking in the brain. Maybe if I would take them I would be more healthy - I don't know - but I do know a mile or two of jogging does make me feel better. So I do it as much as I can. But if it is a pill that would do the same thing, and it is right for someone, that should not stop that person from driving. IMO we need less government, we need simpler rules so that every can read them.

Bear - I have followed your post and you seem like a stand up guy - But in order to get legit med cards, you have to get legit docs! My personal doc gave me a physical a year or so ago - took an hour and a half. The DOT Doc, suggested by the CO State, spent five minutes with me. So you tell me what good is it going to be having my med cert in a computer base? It is legal, but sure doesn't tell you if I lied or if the Doc found anything else wrong with me - how could they have in five minutes. BP, look in the ears, roll the eyes and made me touch my nose - I is good to go.

You all want to do more for sleep, well lets get some rules on idle time and a comfortable sleep at a proper air temp - not this "you can sleep in 105 degree weather without the A/C" crap.

 

Right there with you. My last physical was pretty thorough, doctor even explained why the DOT requires some of the checks to be done. A few years ago I was put in a sound proof chamber for the hearing test. But my first physical went like this.
I walked in the room and the doc slams the door behind me. Said "Did you hear that?" Turned the lights on and off said "Did you see that?" Now run in place for 30 seconds and if you don't have a heart attack you pass.
Of course that was at my cdl school and they wanted everyone to pass so that they could get their money but I've had a couple of others that went about like that too. The point being that any law that is passed there is some way or someone that will figure a way around it.

 

I've never had to falsify one, as I don't have any problems passing a medical. However, every company I've driven for has insisted that I undergo another physical by a physician THEY pick -- presumably to shield themselves from liability.

I have noticed these physicals vary a lot from physician to physician. I have asthma, and always note this on my submission. Some doctors just ask me if it's under control, but one made me run on a treadmill for ten minutes just to make sure.

I did use an urgent care clinic for my last physical (cheaper, and since I don't drive for a living anymore, I don't have a company physician to go to.) Their eye exam was just to read a chart on the wall -- there was no line demarcating proper distance or anything like that. But I get a vision test when I renew my CDL anyway, which is more high-tech.

 

FL: CDL cannot be renewed without valid physical. (AFAIK, renewal time is the only time they check.)