Fatigue, Impairment & Dangerous Behavior

As of November 18, 2024, CDL drivers with a prohibited status in FMCSA's Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse now lose their state-issued commercial driving privileges until they complete the return-to-duty process. State driver licensing agencies must remove the commercial driving privileges from the driver's license of any individual subject to the CMV driving prohibition. Once a driver completes the return-to-duty process and the Clearinghouse status updates to “not prohibited,” the state licensing agency will allow reinstatement of commercial driving privileges.

The Clearinghouse maintains up to five years of data on violations, or until the return-to-duty process is complete, whichever is longer. If a driver does not complete the return-to-duty process, the violation information is maintained in the Clearinghouse indefinitely. So, even if a driver does complete the return-to-duty process, the violation will still stay in the Clearinghouse for five years. Under 49 C.F.R. § 382, a driver's violation record becomes unavailable to employers only after the SAP reports completion of the return-to-duty process, the employer reports a negative return-to-duty test result, the driver has successfully completed all follow-up testing as prescribed, and five years have elapsed from the date of the violation.

A driver who incurs a Clearinghouse violation cannot return to safety-sensitive functions until completing a structured return-to-duty process governed by 49 C.F.R. Part 40, Subpart O. The process involves five steps: an initial evaluation by a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP); completion of any treatment or education that the SAP recommends; a follow-up SAP evaluation; a negative return-to-duty drug or alcohol test; and a follow-up testing plan that requires a minimum of six unannounced tests in the first twelve months following return to duty. The driver's status only updates from “prohibited” to “not prohibited” once all steps are entered.

As of July 2025, more than 190,000 CDL drivers were in prohibited status, meaning approximately one in every 30 CDL holders registered in Clearinghouse is currently prohibited from driving. The share of prohibited drivers who have not started the return-to-duty process has remained consistently high since the Clearinghouse launched. Across its operating history, approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of prohibited drivers at any given point have not yet engaged with the SAP process.