What Is A Qualified and Competent Driver?
To be qualified to drive a tractor-trailer in interstate commerce, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require that an individual must meet the followed specified separate criteria: The driver:
1. Must be at least 21-years old;
2. Must be able to read and speak English;
3. By reason of experience and/or training, must be able to safely operate a vehicle;
4. Must be physically qualified to drive a commercial vehicle in accordance with the physical qualifications and examinations required;
5. Must have a commercially valid motor vehicle license issued by only one state;
6. Have prepared and furnished the hiring motor carrier a list of prior violations;
7. Is not disqualified under the rules;
8. Has successfully completed a driver’s road test and has been issued a certificate or has presented an operator’s license or certificate of road test which the motor carrier that employee’s has accepted as equivalent to a road test.
An individual driver who fails to meet any of these criteria subjects both himself and his employer to liability which may include a claim for punitive damages. In short, if a motor carrier driver is not qualified and/or competent as set forth herein, then he or she has no right to operate a tractor-trailer rig in interstate commerce and liability for a collision by an unqualified driver can be established on this basis alone.
Because these criteria for minimum qualifications and competence are so important to minimum federal safety standards, they shall be discussed separately in future blogs. If a trucking company fails to determine whether a driver is qualified to drive, fails to give a driving test or obtain an adequate employment history of prior traffic violations and/or fails to conduct pre-employment screening and otherwise fails to observe all of the safety regulations applicable to interstate trucking companies, then in that event, the trucking company can be held not only for any damages caused by the unqualified driver but also can be held liable for punitive damages for a willful violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. See Smith v. Tommy Roberts Trucking Company, 209 Ga. App. 826 435 S.E. 2d 54 (1993).
