FMCSA to Propose Vision Rules Change

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will propose changes to vision requirements for truck drivers sometime this year.

The agency says it will recommend that the current rules be changed to require at least 120 degrees of horizontal field in each eye instead of 70. It will also propose the addition of a new requirement for a total vertical vision field of 40 degrees -- 20 above the horizontal axis and 20 below the axis -- in each eye.
The proposals are based on recommendations by a special medical panel convened in 1997 to study federal vision standards. The report, issued a year later, found ambiguities in the 70-degree field of vision standard, which would be addressed with this proposal.
The study also recommended further study to determine the extent to which visual-impaired drivers, with careful evaluation and monitoring, could safety operate commercial motor vehicles. FMCSA is, in effect, doing that by granting two-year renewable exemptions to drivers that meet certain physical and safety performance standards.