The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied the requests of 141 monocular drivers for exemptions from federal vision standards. The program, started in 1998, has some general guidelines for the exemptions which FMCSA says these applicants did not meet.

One is that applicants have at least three years of experience operating a commercial vehicle with the vision deficiency. FMCSA said that 92 of these individuals didn’t have the required three years, including 14 who had no experience driving a commercial vehicle.
Applicants are only allowed two traffic violations in the previous three years; one applicant had four. Drivers must also meet all other physical standards for commercial drivers. Two of these applicants already have waivers for loss of limbs, another was diagnosed with high blood pressure.
The drivers were notified in writing but FMCSA is also required to publish their names and summary information in the Federal Register. That notice appeared May 23. The Federal Register can be accessed online at www.nara.gov/fedreg.