NO MAS

[truck driver + 2]

I guess I'll have to change my posting handle.
I got tired of messing with the MD DMV over my DOT physical status and I down graded my drivers license from a Class A CDL to just a Class A license.
I have sleep Apnea and every year I have to get a physical to maintain my right to drive a commercial vehicle. Last year a clinical nurse who has probably never seen a patient and sets behind a desk all day down graded my license last year and could have cost me thousands of dollars even though I had gotten a physical before my old card had expired and done the proper paper work. I had to make a special trip to the MVA to get it straightened out and was not a happy camper.
This year I decide to heck with it since I'm 68 and was semi retired I don't need this hassle and had my license down graded to a non commercial class A and no need for a physical though I can't drive commercial vehicles I can still play with the antique ones if I want to and don't have to worry about the DOT. (:>)

[badsection]

A class A CDL gives the state/feds the option of demanding a drug test and certain other invasive abuses of the Constitution that I'm sure you are well aware of, T D.  I got rid of mine when I transferred my MD. CDL to a Florida permit with a motor cycle endorsement and no more.  Yea, I was dragging some ultra heavyweight cable trailers and pole trailers when I worked in a "combo crew". Place the cable, splice it up and be done in one operation!  Walk away smiling, we survived some nasty shit, my friend!   

[Big Muddy rancher]

Old truckers never die, they just get a new Peterbilt.

[truck driver + 2]

Old truckers never die, they just get a new Peterbilt.

Sold my Peterbilt  after I broke my left ankle. Kind of hard pushing the clutch in to get it moving and stopping .
Thought about putting an automatic tranny in it for a while but good sense prevailed and i sold it putting the money in the bank.
I only held onto the CDL for play money anyway but the aggravation was more then I wanted to put up with anymore.

[catskinner]

I had to get my physical for my CDL last summer, and failed the eye test  They down graded me until I got glasses and redid the eye test, and it was a pain in the a$$ to get back.

Rob

[truck driver + 2]

I had to get my physical for my CDL last summer, and failed the eye test  They down graded me until I got glasses and redid the eye test, and it was a pain in the a$$ to get back.

Rob

I know what you mean. I almost failed the hearing test due to tininess(ringing in my ears).
Last year the MVA lost my paper work and instead of contacting me or the doctor for a new record they down graded me with out notification and I drove  on a class c which if caught by a random DOT check I was looking at thousands of dollars in fines.
I had went in to renew my license and that is how I found out. These people think they are God and could care less about someone trying to make a living.
At least now I won't have to worry with it or the double fines should I be caught speeding. Big relief off my shoulders.

[Big Muddy rancher]

I had to get my physical for my CDL last summer, and failed the eye test  They down graded me until I got glasses and redid the eye test, and it was a pain in the a$$ to get back.

Rob

I know what you mean. I almost failed the hearing test due to tininess(ringing in my ears).
Last year the MVA lost my paper work and instead of contacting me or the doctor for a new record they down graded me with out notification and I drove  on a class c which if caught by a random DOT check I was looking at thousands of dollars in fines.
I had went in to renew my license and that is how I found out. These people think they are God and could care less about someone trying to make a living.
At least now I won't have to worry with it or the double fines should I be caught speeding. Big relief off my shoulders.

Same thing happened to my son.
They did send him a letter but he was away when it came. I happened to be at the doctors when it happened so the receptionist re-faxed the forms, I waited until they confirmed they got them.

[rockville]

Where I work I see several truck drivers. Many are foreigners that don’t even speak english. I would think here in the US since everything is written in English that this would be required to know. There has to be several places where they rubber stamp them. Sorry to hear about your situation on one hand but on the other I hope you can learn to enjoy driving less and being home more.

[truck driver + 2]

Where I work I see several truck drivers. Many are foreigners that don’t even speak english. I would think here in the US since everything is written in English that this would be required to know. There has to be several places where they rubber stamp them. Sorry to hear about your situation on one hand but on the other I hope you can learn to enjoy driving less and being home more.

Thanks Chris, I actually have been semi retired for around 5 years and only held on to the license for mad money.
A lot of Asians are driving and don't speak English along Hispanics who refuse to even try to learn the language. They have people at the MVA who read the test questions to them and I'm not sure if they don't have the test in spanish now.
I've talked to several DOT officers and their worse nightmare are the immigrants that can't or won't speak English.
Maryland is one of the states that will give immigrants a drivers license with out proof of citizenship yet a citizen renewing their license needs a valid Birth certificate to renew their license.

[musicman]

I know nothing of the licensing and permit crap that you pro truckers have to go through, but a younger friend of mine that WAS an interstate trucker, gave it up a couple of years ago, and now just drives shorter runs in Central Texas.  He said that the paperwork and stuff he had to figure out and do each month for all of the states that he traveled in, was more than he and his wife cared to deal with.  He is much more relaxed now.  America would come to a STOP, if not for the truckers.  MM