Random Testing
To All;
Random testing is mandated by the DOT. Carriers perform the random testing (along with the other types - reasonable suspicion, post accident, pre employment, etc...) because the carrier is ultimately responsible for the safety of the vehicle.
In many years of Safety, and since the regs were implemented in 1995, I have conducted the randoms on all drivers subject to the regs for the companies I have worked at. I am always amazed when I see or hear comments from drivers that "the company picks me because..."
If you read, and understand the regs, as you should - it is your responsibility as a driver to read and understand the regs - you would understand that no company conducts randoms by just "picking" a specific driver, for whatever means. Carriers usually use third party software that must be equipped with a "true random generator", or drivers are placed into a testing consortium. This means that ALL drivers that are subject to the regs are included in the testing pool each time random selection is conducted. You could be selected each time the carrier performs random in a given year (whether monthly, quarterly, etc.), or you could go twenty years without ever being selected. That is true random selection.
I usually show complaining drivers the actual software and how it works to help them better understand random testing.
Remember, it is the DOT that makes the regs, not the carrier you are driving for. When you obtain a CDL you are aware that this testing is a requirement, and part of the PRIVLEDGE to have that license.
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
HotFr8Recruiter
