Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act 1986

A commercial driver's license is a driver's license required to operate large or heavy vehicles.

In the United States, the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 established minimum requirements that must be met when a state issues a CDL. It specifies the following types of license:

This includes, but is not limited to, tow trucks, tractor trailers, and buses.

Driving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), which are primarily tractor-trailers (or Longer Combination Vehicles (LCVs)), requires advanced skills and knowledge above and beyond those required to drive a car or other light weight vehicle. Before implementation of the commercial driver's license (CDL) Program in 1986, licensing requirements for driving larger vehicles and buses varied from state to state.

Many drivers were operating motor vehicles that they may not have been trained or qualified to drive. This lack of training resulted in a large number of preventable traffic deaths and accidents.

1986 when the Act became law, all drivers have been required to have a CDL in order to drive a Commercial Motor Vehicle. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has developed testing standards for licensing drivers. U.S. states are able to issue CDLs only after a written and practical test have been given by the State or approved testing facility.

A driver needs a CDL if the vehicle meets one of the following definitions of a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV):

Class A: Any combination of vehicles which has a gross combination weight rating or gross combination weight of 11,794 kilograms or more (26,001 pounds or more) whichever is greater, inclusive of a towed unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of more than 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) whichever is greater.

Class B: Any single vehicle which has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 11,794 or more kilograms (26,001 pounds or more), or any such vehicle towing a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight that does not exceed 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds).

Class C: Any single vehicle, or combination of vehicles, that does not meet the definition of Class A or Class B, but is either designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver, or is transporting material that has been designated as hazardous under 49 U.S.C. 5103 and is required to be placarded under subpart F of 49 CFR Part 172 or is transporting any quantity of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 CFR Part 73.

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