Featured Work
Developing a New National Medical Examiner Database for Truckers
Sponsor
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
Project Highlights
- FMCSA has asked the Volpe Center's Safety Management Systems COI to develop a new National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME).
- The four-year project will enable CMV operators to access, via the Internet, a national database of approximately 40,000 MEs who are certified to determine drivers' physical qualifications.
Project Point of Contact
Larry Schillberg
617-494-2217
Larry.Schillberg@dot.gov
Project Overview
More than nine million commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operators drive our nation's buses and heavy trucks. Each of these operators must meet a set of physical qualifications in order to receive or renew a commercial driver's license. In 1996 and 1997, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) convened a negotiated rulemaking committee, which submitted several proposals addressing ways to ensure that medical examiners (MEs) understand the agency's medical requirements for drivers. One of the committee's recommendations was to develop models for a national registry and education programs for MEs. In 1999, the national registry idea reemerged with the introduction of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act, which also established FMCSA.
FMCSA has asked the Volpe Center's Safety Management Systems COI to develop a new National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME). The four-year project will enable CMV operators to access, via the Internet, a national database of approximately 40,000 MEs who are certified to determine drivers' physical qualifications. The Volpe Center will develop, install, deploy, operate, and maintain the NRCME software application; select and purchase system hardware and software; operate a help desk; provide analysis and technical support to FMCSA's medical program and performance measurement system; and ensure that the system meets all applicable security, accessibility, and continuity-of operations requirements.
The NRCME will ensure that MEs are certified to perform their essential function and that CMV operators can easily find an ME to examine them. The result will be safer streets, not only for truck and bus drivers but for everyone.