Monday, May 5, 2014

Truck Driving and Your Health

So you want to be a trucker? First, you have to make sure that you’re healthy enough.

Trucking means traveling thousands of miles across many states almost non-stop. An existing medical condition on top of a physically-demanding job is a double whammy. Certain diseases and conditions can deny you the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a semi. This is done to make sure that you will efficiently and safely do your job without endangering yourself and other motorists.


The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) considers four medical conditions as grounds for disqualification: hearing loss, vision loss, epilepsy, and use of insulin. The first three are non-negotiable, but the fourth can exempt drivers through the Federal Diabetes Exemption program.

This doesn't mean these are the only conditions. Medical professionals can still render a candidate unfit for trucking duty due to other diseases such as narcolepsy, sleep apnea, dementia, vertigo, and chronic kidney disease. If the conditions fail to meet the guidelines under 49 CFR 391.41, a person won't be getting into trucks for a lifetime.


Given that a lot of diseases mentioned can be chronic, it's important to invest in good health from the start. Do everything you can to become healthy before a medical exam and thereafter, to get and keep you driving a semi. Trucking will demand every single cell in your body to do their part in ensuring safety of the cargo and fellow motorists on the road.

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