What makes a good driver? It’s a question many recruiters and fleet managers struggle to answer.
Whether you’re seeking to hire new drivers or retain the ones you have, it’s important to understand the basics of driver qualifications — and, conversely, driver disqualifications.
Jay Johnson has held a CDL for more than three decades, and he drove professionally early in his career. He’s also spent nearly 30 years as a law enforcement officer in California, including work in commercial vehicle/driver enforcement. In short, he’s experienced both ends of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration guidelines and has extensive experience with California state regulations.
In 2010, Johnson launched a consulting group, Jay Johnson and Associates, that’s focused on commercial vehicle safety, specifically in enhancing motor carriers’ abilities to qualify and disqualify drivers.
In a recent webinar, hosted by DQM Connect, Johnson reviewed the basics of driver qualifications and disqualifications, and offered insights on some recent and pending changes.
Basic driver qualifications
According to Title 49 in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), there are several defined qualifiers allowing a driver to operate a CMV exceeding 10,000 pounds in interstate commerce. A qualified driver must:
- Be at least 21 years of age. Although this age has been debated in recent years, for now, 21 is the minimum age a driver must be to operate in interstate commerce.
- Be trained and have experience in driving the type of vehicle the job requires.
- Be physically qualified. This means they must have a valid medical certification as clearance to operate a CMV.
- Possess a commercial driver’s license (CDL).
- Have completed or been exempted from a road test.
Finally, they must NOT be disqualified as a driver under Section 391 of the CFR.
English language proficiency
A relatively new — perhaps it’s more accurate to say “newly enforceable” — requirement for operators of CMVs is the ability to communicate in English. Enforcement of this rule began just last week, on June 25.
The “ability to communicate in English” does NOT mean a driver must be fluent in the language. However, it DOES mean they must be able to converse with law enforcement personnel during a vehicle stop or roadside inspection. A driver must be able to understand and answer an officer’s questions and provide requested information related to ELDs and other driving records. An inability to do so may result in an out-of-service order.
Challenges for carriers
Despite the relatively short list of qualifications a driver must possess to operate a CMV, Johnson says he regularly sees carriers facing challenges related to driver qualifications.
“What I see most frequently are incomplete Department of Transportation (DOT) applications,” Johnson said. “There are some very explicit granular details that have to be included in order to pass muster.”
Julia Wilks, compliance administrator and auditor for Jay Johnson and Associates, says consistency is key.
“When we review a driver, sometimes they’ll submit a resume — and we’ve seen inconsistencies between the resume and the application itself,” she said.
Such inconsistencies result in delays in clearing applicants as “qualified” and allowing them to move forward with the employment process.
“One of the most common (problems) I see is an incomplete motor vehicle record (MVR) that’s over 30 days old,” she said.
“We see drivers who didn’t meet the minimum qualifications, and a lot of that’s caused by a lack of the full query in the pre-employment screening (PSP) clearinghouse,” Johnson noted, adding that in return for the $10 fee to run a PSP, a carrier may be protected from roadside inspection problems and violations that may turn into an out-of-service situation for both the driver and carrier.
In other words, obtaining a complete PSP is cheap insurance against having an unqualified driver on staff.
Driver disqualifications
When it comes to driver disqualifications, the list is relatively short — but it can be daunting if a carrier does not complete due diligence in keeping up with its drivers’ activities.
Johnson takes special note of what he describes as “career-ending violations.”
“Within 49 CFR are 18 pages, and a good portion is a chart detailing the disqualifications,” he noted. “The simple way to explain it is: If you commit one of the listed violations in this chart; then, depending on how many times you have committed that violation, you could lose your driver’s license for life.”
These violations don’t have to be incurred while driving a CMV to destroy a career. As an example, Johnson points to driving while intoxicated (DWI) violations in private passenger vehicles.
If a CLD holder is stopped while driving a passenger vehicle and has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher, the driver loses their CDL for a year — for a first-time conviction.
“If you are a commercial driver and you depend on that license, then you’ve just ended your career for the next year,” he said. “Not only that, your future employer will have a difficult time insuring you because (a DWI) happens to be an exclusion for most insurance policies.”
A second-time conviction will mean a lifelong ban on the driver holding a CDL. In other words, a serious violation, even when off the clock and not driving a CMV, can result in disqualification and even spell the end of a lucrative career.
Some common issues Johnson sees when consulting with motor carriers about their qualification and disqualifications processes are related to monitoring. Carriers should monitor drivers’ motor vehicle records (MVR) on a monthly, or at least a quarterly, basis. Such monitoring should include a review of items like:
- Improperly classified CDLs;
- Refusal to submit to drug/alcohol screening or positive tests (refusal equals a positive test for CDL purposes);
- Failure to conduct regular clearinghouse queries;
- Drivers lacking medical certifications; and
- Inability to quickly access records.
Johnson emphasizes that carriers must pay close attention to weight limits and a driver’s qualifications, citing a situation in which a driver rated for 10,000 pounds was inspected and found to be driving a vehicle 100 pounds over the limit. The driver and the vehicle were placed out of service resulting in a negative notation on the driver’s inspection record and a delayed delivery of cargo.
While this example may seem extreme, it demonstrates the diligence a carrier must take to avoid driver disqualification.
Disqualification is not a difficult concept to master, and the checklist is readily available for motor carriers to access.
“If you’re consistent when using a checklist, you’re always going to meet all of the minimum qualifications,” Johnson said.
This story originally appeared in the July/August 2025 print edition of Truckload Authority, the official publication of the Truckload Carriers Association.
Since retiring from a career as an outdoor recreation professional from the State of Arkansas, Kris Rutherford has worked as a freelance writer and, with his wife, owns and publishes a small Northeast Texas newspaper, The Roxton Progress. Kris has worked as a ghostwriter and editor and has authored seven books of his own. He became interested in the trucking industry as a child in the 1970s when his family traveled the interstates twice a year between their home in Maine and their native Texas. He has been a classic country music enthusiast since the age of nine when he developed a special interest in trucking songs.
