Random Drug Testing of Truck Drivers Will Stay at the 50% – Rate

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POLICY CHANGE: AADT has changed the policy when adding a driver at the end of a company’s renewal period. Instead of the $30 for CD’s or $20 for DF the last 30 days of a company’s enrollment it has changed to the special rate for the last 60 days of a company’s enrollment.

Random drug testing rates for trucking company employees and owner-operators in safety sensitive positions regulated by federal and states law will continue at 50-percent in the coming year, the FMCSA announced December 31.

The agency says it based its decision to maintain the 50 percent rate for drugs and 10% for alcohol on data from surveys conducted in 2012. Data from that survey showed the following:

Positive test rates following an initial positive result increased by 4.1 percent from 2011 to 2012;

  • The rate of total positive drug test results reported to DOT from independent Health and Human Services-certified laboratories increased from 95,427 positives in 2011 to 97,332 positives in 2012.
  • FMCSA-regulated industries comprise approximately 80 percent of the reported tests;
    Serious controlled substance and alcohol testing violations were identified in 24 percent of recent compliance investigations; and
  • A two-week 2014 Strike Force focusing on the identification of drivers who tested positive resulted in 205 driver enforcement cases, and 138 enforcement cases against carriers for violations relating to drivers with positive test results operating a commercial motor vehicle. These include drivers operating passenger carrying vehicles and transporting hazardous materials.
  • Reasonable suspicion positive test rates continued to rise sharply from 5.6 percent in 2010, to 15.7 percent in 2011 and 37.2 percent in 2012, marking a five-fold increase over the 3-year period;
  • The rate of total positive drug test results reported to the DOT from federally certified labs saw a slight jump from 2011 to 2012, increasing from 95,427 in 2011 to 97,332 in 2012.

According to FMCSA, while results of the 2012 Drug and Alcohol Testing Survey of approximately 2,000 carriers indicated that positive random drug testing results have decreased for a second year, they will continue to gather more information on driver test rates and monitor industry testing programs before re-evaluating the controlled substances random test rate for 2016.