A proposal to lift commercial driver’s license (CDL) restrictions for those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing is raising concerns from driver trainers warning the change would make training less safe.
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) petition, filed in December, asks that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) repeal the requirement that commercial drivers be able to hear. The advocacy group also asked FMCA to amend the requirement that drivers be able to speak as well as the rule barring interpreters during the CDL skills testing.
“NAD believes the origins of the hearing requirement dates to a time of misguided stereotypes about the abilities and inabilities of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and the rules should now be changed,” FMCSA stated.
FMCSA currently reviews individual cases for deaf or hard-of-hearing drivers seeking a CDL and has granted nearly 600 waivers since 2013 for drivers who did not meet current regulatory requirements. Those in charge of training drivers, however, contend that a blanket lifting of the restrictions would create safety hazards as well as disrupt the training process.
“I’m glad to help anyone to get a CDL, and we’ve helped train many drivers that were hearing impaired,” Jill Balleh, president of Richmond, Virginia-based CDS Tractor Trailer Training, told FreightWaves. “But if someone is completely deaf and they depend on sign language or lip reading, I don’t think that’s a safe situation because of the split-second reaction time that’s needed during training.”
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Noble1
Quote:
“The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) petition, filed in December, asks that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) repeal the requirement that commercial drivers be able to hear.”
LOL !
Oh this freakin’ takes the cake .
Why not include the blind too ? LOL !
Seriously though , I would say it greatly depends on the level of hearing loss and if a hearing aid could render the hearing impairment null . If not , then they shouldn’t be driving . Granted that those who tend to have a hearing impairment tend to have developed their visual faculties above what would be considered to be “normal” .
That being said , if a truck driver instructor needs physical movement other than vocal to communicate with the hearing impaired driver then obviously that hearing impaired driver should not drive anything , not even a bicycle .
In my humble opinion ………..
Mike
Hearing impaired? Maybe they should remove the Beats headphones? That would go a long way to correcting this issue.