Due to the increasing involvement of heavy duty trucks in fatal crashes, there has arisen a movement to correct the highway environment and the trucks themselves, along with proposals to upgrade the standards for drivers of these vehicles, including proposals concerning stricter age and physical requirements for initiation and renewal of drivers' licenses. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the legal arguments which may arise from these proposals. Three questions are addressed: (1) Can the state establish a maximum age beyond which it would not issue a driver's license ?; (2) Can applicants for commercial drivers' licenses, as part of a periodic physical examination program, be required to pass certain strength tests relating to their ability to physically operate commercial vehicles ?; and (3) Can truck drivers be required to undergo physicals by certain physicians approved by the licensing authority rather than a physician of their own choosing ? (A)
Abstract