Question
Newport's Truckinginfo.com
May 07, 2001
- A proposal that would allow diabetic truck drivers to operate in interstate commerce could be on the table as early as this summer.
Last year, following a directive from Congress, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a detailed study that concluded that a "safe and practicable protocol" for licensing individuals with insulin-treated diabetes is feasible. The next step is a formal proposal published in the Federal Register inviting public comment. The agency says that's currently in the works.
The proposal is bound to draw fire from safety groups such as the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, which waged a successful court battle against a similar program in 1993. On the other side of the controversy, it has already received sharp criticism from the American Diabetes Assn., which says the waiver requirements, as detailed in FMCSA's report to Congress, are too strict. Specifically, the association takes issue with FMCSA's recommendation that waiver applicants have at least three years of recent experience operating a commercial vehicle while being treated for insulin-dependent diabetes. (Some states grant waivers to diabetics or have grandfathered those who were licensed before state bans were adopted. Those drivers are restricted to intrastate trucking.)
"This standard would eliminate the vast majority of potential drivers with diabetes from even attempting to qualify," the association argued in the May issue of Diabetes Forecast magazine. It also argued that these "screening components" are not supported by the medical experts FMCSA consulted.
FMCSA, however, is likely to stick to its guns -- as it has with experience requirements for drivers seeking exemptions from federal vision standards. Requirements regarding a diabetic applicant's safety record will be equally strict: no license revocations or suspensions in that three-year period (in a truck or personal vehicle), no accidents where a traffic citation was issued, no disqualifying offenses or serious traffic violations while operating a CMV.
The report to Congress also contained specific medical requirements including annual examinations, and glucose readings every four hours while on duty.
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Answer
If this flies, it is going to make life a heck of a lot easier on those that are insulin dependent. I totally support the every 4 hour blood sugar tests. While it may seem like a pain in the tush (actually the fingertips) It will be a small price to pay to be safely back on the Interstate routes.
There are many diabetic drivers who manage their diets and medications with fine tuned precision. But there are those who choose to be totally non-compliant. Those are the ones that worry me. Not only for the safety of those on the roads they travel, but what their actions may cause for those who play by the rules. Time will tell. I think they should at least do a trial run or pilot program.
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Answer
Well after having been off the needle for a while now and on oral meds I have learned to control my sugar pretty well. But the possibility still looms that I will again one day havew to go back to the needle.
In preparing for that I am in the process of trying to put togeather a request for an exemption rather than a waiver. I have to disagree somewhat with the 4 hour testing unless it is done to establish a baseline for each individual first. Just the stress of being caught in traffic or anything else of that nature could raise the glucose levels enough to provide an elevated reading just prior to testing. And such a result could flaw the end result.
As far as I am concerned, if they are that concerned as to glucose level maintenance, I am willing to use a pump for constant monitoring and control that will basically take it out of my physical control. Similar to the one use by Michele McGann, an LPGA tour player, who has found her game once again because of the constant glucose control virtually eliminating sugar highs and lows.
And quite possibly this system would lower the price and availability of the pump and make it a practical alternative for ALL diabetics to continue driving a truck.
Isn't it amazing that a disease that has been classified an epidemic by the CDC and effects folks of all ages is so underfunded and misunderstood?
Sorry about getting on my soapbox but I already know about the retraining options available if I get disqualified. And it isn't a pretty picture.
Been there, Done that and took the time to learn from it. There are still many battles to fight and conquests to claim. Have to go as times a wastin. OFFO
Answer
actually nurse Red, the testing proces can be simplified now.....there are new glucometers out that can test not only capillary blood from the fingertips, but from elsewhere as well. I forget off hand the name of the new glucometer, but it has been advertized in many publications, including the AARP magazine. But all that aside..
I think that a professional truck driver has even MORE at stake and if diabetic, would not want to risk his livelyhood! I am sure that there have been many UNCONTROLLED UNDIAGNOSED diabetics that have driven for YEARS Heck, there are even walking time-bomb heart attack victims out there!....So, regulation for insulin-dependent diabetics seems silly to me..... It is, as I said in their best interst to stay within normal limits!!!