Most people think that operating under the influence means drinking and driving, but what they don’t realize is that drugs have the same effect. Whether the drugs are prescribed or not it does not matter, you can still be fined for it.

Truck drivers with CDL license are required to be drug tested because they might have drugs in their system while driving. Now if an 18-wheeler truck got into a wreck, there would be some serious damage. That is why trucking companies do not want to take that risk.

The studies that have been done are very eye-opening when you realize that 15% of truck drivers tested had marijuana in their system, stimulants showed 12% non-prescription and prescribed 5% and alcohol 1%.

Truck drivers do not have to be intoxicated with a 0.08 BAC generally or higher. They are subject to a reading of 0.04 or higher due to the fact that they are operating a monstrous vehicle and routes that are long.

There is a misconception that being high on marijuana is safer than alcohol but that just is not the case. Marijuana is said to affect your concentration, perception and reaction time for possibly as long as 24 hours versus a 3-4 hour span for alcohol depending on the amount consumed. Marijuana has been the cause in more than 12% of trucking accidents that were fatal.

It is understandable that truck drivers sometimes find it difficult to stay awake, because they do drive for long shifts. This is often the reason they want to use something, such as ice or meth, in order to counteract the tiredness. Unfortunately, it is also extremely easy for truck drivers to get their hands on these drugs at almost any truck stop. There are several that even show that 1 in every 5 truck drivers use those specific drugs in order to stay awake and drive longer.

Truckers are watched very hard and will be pulled over by law enforcement if they are even suspicious that they are intoxicated. Law enforcement will not tolerate it and have tools to test if they are. These are a breathalyzer, a field sobriety test and swab drug test you and search you.

The breathalyzer is a device that the driver blows into to see if they have been drinking and how much. The field sobriety exercises consist of nystagmus, walk and turn, standing on one leg, finger to nose, and the Romberg balance test. The nystagmus test is when the officer buts an object in front of the suspects face and moves it back and forth watching the suspect’s eyes. The rest are self-explanatory. The officer can also have chemical test done which consist of blood or urine.

The swab test is done by taking a sample of saliva from the suspect’s mouth in which if it comes back “hot” then you are driving OUI.

To sum it all up, nobody should operate while under the influence and that especially goes for truck drivers. It is never safe to drink or do drugs when you are going to have to operate a vehicle.