The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is increasing the minimum annual percentage rate for random controlled substance testing for commercial motor vehicle drivers, from 25% to 50% percent, effective Jan. 1, in response to rising positive drug-testing rates.
As published in a Recent Federal Notice, the agency explained that the 2018 FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Testing Survey showed the positive rate for controlled substances random testing increased to 1%. DOT regulations require FMCSA to increase the random-testing rate when the data for any calendar year shows a reported positive of 1% or more.
For 2016 and 2017, the positive rate was estimated to be 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.
The minimum drug-testing rate was 50% from the start of the DOT testing program in 1995 until 2015. FMCSA reduced it to 25% starting Jan. 1, 2016, based on two consecutive years of testing data (2013-2014) that showed a positive rate of less than 1%.
