Regulations

Two driver-led petitions are under official FMCSA review: off-duty random drug tests and sleeper CO detectors

FMCSA confirmed Nathan Weidert's bid to bar carriers from ordering random screens while a driver is off-duty is under official consideration alongside Todd Daum's carbon monoxide detector ask — but a petition is not a rule, and the agency can deny either outright without public comment.

By CDLWire · Published October 17, 2026

Summarized from Overdrive.

A driver resting in a sleeper berth at night with the cab parked at a truck stop

Two petitions written by truck drivers — one to bar carriers from ordering random drug tests while a driver is off-duty, and one to require carbon monoxide detectors in sleeper cabs — are under official consideration at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, according to Overdrive on Oct. 16.

FMCSA confirmed to Overdrive that Nathan Weidert's petition is under official consideration and is posted on the agency's petitions page with more than 30 other active petitions, including Todd Daum's ask for a rule requiring carbon monoxide detectors in sleeper trucks, aimed at preventing poisoning deaths and injuries among drivers resting in sleeper berths from idling engines and exhaust fumes. Interested parties cannot yet comment on the petitions. FMCSA reviews every petition it receives and can grant or deny one outright, without public comment; only if a petition is granted would the agency proceed to a rulemaking process that includes public comment on proposed changes.

Weidert's case shows what is at stake in an off-duty order. He had been driving seasonally and was at the very end of his contract term, with no more work scheduled, when the company selected him for random testing. When he objected that he was no longer under the company's employment, the company reported the refusal to test to the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which forced him into burdensome return-to-duty procedures on his part to be authorized to operate a truck again.

His record was ultimately cleared. In a letter in late August, FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs wrote that the agency was able to confirm Weidert was actively working for a second employer when the first one called him up for the random test, and that FMCSA therefore determined he could not reasonably have submitted to the test under the specific facts of his case, granting his request to correct the Clearinghouse record. His CDL and Clearinghouse record are now in good standing, and he is pressing the petition so the off-duty protection would apply to all drivers rather than case by case.