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What the Rule Requires
Under 49 CFR § 382.303, a motor carrier must test a driver for alcohol and controlled substances after certain crashes. The windows are short and they are different from each other.
If the carrier does not test within the window, the rule requires it to prepare and keep a record stating why. That document is not a formality — in a later claim it is a contemporaneous statement by the carrier about what it did and did not do in the hours after a crash.
When It Applies
Not after every crash. The regulation sets out the circumstances, and they turn on the severity of the crash and on whether the driver was cited.
| Circumstance | Requirement |
|---|---|
| A fatality | Testing is required regardless of citation. |
| Bodily injury treated away from the scene | Testing is required if the driver receives a citation under state or local law arising from the crash. |
| A vehicle disabled and towed | Same — required if the driver receives a citation arising from the crash. |
The citation condition is why the two facts an injured person should capture early are whether anyone was transported for treatment and whether the driver was cited. Both are usually on the crash report, and both determine whether a test should exist at all. See getting your crash report.
The Clearinghouse
Separately from testing after a particular crash, FMCSA maintains a national database of drug and alcohol program violations for CDL holders, governed by 49 CFR Part 382 subpart G.
Carriers must query it before hiring a driver and at intervals during employment, and must report violations into it. It is not public — access is restricted, and a driver’s own consent is required for certain queries — so it is not something an injured person can simply look up the way they can look up a carrier’s safety record.
What it does create is a paper trail. Whether the carrier ran the required queries, and what came back, are documented facts that bear directly on a negligent hiring or retention claim.
What a Missing Test Means, and What It Does Not
Two errors are common here, in opposite directions.
- A negative test does not end the inquiry. Fatigue is not detected by a drug screen, and fatigue is a far more frequent factor in truck crashes than intoxication. See driver fatigue.
- A missing test is not proof of impairment. It is a compliance question about the carrier, not a fact about the driver’s condition. Treating absence as evidence of the thing not tested for is exactly the reasoning a defense will take apart.
What a missing test does raise is a question about the carrier’s post-accident procedures, which sits alongside the other things a company controls: hiring, training, scheduling, and maintenance. Under Florida’s comparative negligence rule in Fla. Stat. § 768.81, each defendant answers for its own share, so the carrier’s own conduct is a distinct question from the driver’s.
What to Capture Early
- Whether anyone was transported for treatment, and whether the driver was cited. Together these determine whether testing was required.
- The crash report number, which is how both facts are confirmed. Report information is confidential for 60 days under Fla. Stat. § 316.066.
- A written demand for the testing records — or for the documented explanation of why no test occurred.
- A demand for the Clearinghouse query records the carrier was required to run for that driver.
- The hours records too. Fatigue is the more common factor, and it is proved from ELD data rather than from a screen.
The wider point is that these two windows are unusual. Almost everything else in a truck case can be preserved by a letter sent in the first month. These cannot. By the time an injured person is out of hospital and thinking about a lawyer, the testing question has already been answered one way or the other, and what remains is finding out which.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a truck driver always drug tested after a crash?
How quickly must the test happen?
What if no test was done?
Can I look up a driver's drug and alcohol history?
Shiner Law Group, P.A.
Founded by David I. Shiner, Esq. · AV Preeminent® rated · Florida Bar member since 2002
Shiner Law Group was founded by David I. Shiner, Esq., a Nova Southeastern University law graduate, a member of The Florida Bar since 2002, and AV Preeminent® rated by Martindale-Hubbell. The firm represents injured people across Florida from offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Wellington, and Belle Glade, and handles truck accident cases on contingency: free consultations, and no fee unless there is a recovery.
Was Post-Crash Testing Done? It Should Have Been.
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