is YOUR license valid?
 

Here is some information every newer trucker needs to know:
A freind of mine went to a truck driving school in a different state from where your permanent residence is located -- My friend went to a truck driving school in Wisconsin and but lives in Illinois. They had them all surrender their lesser and former driver's licenses to the state of Wisconsin. So, when my friend returned to Illinois he had a Wisconsin driver's license (Class A-CDL).
Wisconsin was supposed to return the lllinois to the State of Illinois - Secretary of State's office. Well to make a long story short: he got back to Illinois before his former license did and he went and surrendered the Wisconsin license and got an Illinois Class A-CDL. That was a bad thing. When the state of Illinois got his old license that he had surrendered in Wisconsin they just decided that he did not have a valid driver's license at all.
So, for a couple of years!! my friend was driving around in tractor/trailers and automobiles and his license
was not valid.

Yes, it was a weird technicality and it was certainly not his fault. The Secretary of State's office in Illinois is aware that this occurs, but that does not change the fact that my friend now has this on his record.

It is possible for you to check the "status" of your own driver's license. Call the Secretary of State or Department of Motor Vehicles in your home state and ask them to check your license for you.

Thank God that my friend's boss is a person who understands that research must be done before conclusions are made. He still has his job, which is not truck driving, but does require a Class A-CDL, and the ability to drive anything from the tractor-trailer to the company car.

As required by law, you may only possess one drveir's license at a time. One CDL is mandated by the FMCSR:

Valid for 30 days:

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/pu...s/dsd_a112.pdf

Did you work for the same employer for those 2.5 years? If so were they pulling an annual MVR to ensure you had a valid CDL? If not did new and prospective employers pull an MVR to determine whether you had a CDL?

Sounds like some short cuts were taken and people didn't do their job.

Be safe.

yes, the involved parties are well aware of the law stating that a person may have only one driver's license at a time. that was always the case in this story.

perhaps if 30 days had gone by, after returning to Illinois, this may not have caused the problem. in other words, maybe if 25 or up to 30 days had gone by the former license would have reached the Illinois officials and the whole mess would never have occurred.

it was a couple of different employers over a couple of years. no MVR was done at time of hire. the employer is not a trucking company. some of their vehicles for the business happen to be those which require a Class A-CDL. this is not OTR trucking in any way.
But it is true that it would have averted a mess if only someone had run an MVR and asked the appropriate questions long ago. There are more CDL holders in the company now. Great effort is being made to comply with regulations and laws.

The rules for pulling an MVR start at 10,001 pounds:

CDL's drive D & A testing. Threshold for log books, annual inspections, driver qualification, and maintenance is much lower.

Be safe.

Realizing that this is a direct quote from IL REGs, I'm afraid that the State has dillusions of grandure. Watch the drivers from the State of IL and wonder where most of them ever got a driver's license in the first place. When I lived in WI, a majority of accidents on Wisconsin's highways involved IL drivers. There have been far more "explatives" used on them then to simply say they are "SUICIDAL". In general, IL drivers are among the most dangerous on the highways. They take some of the most dangerous chances of any, including passing on a two-lane highway with on-comming traffic. And, then, IL has the GUTS to require retesting for drivers that come in from out of state?????:eek2::eek1::hellno::moon:

A good place to be from... About as far away from as you can get... The problem is, no matter how far away you get, they always seem to find you. Just yesterday afternoon, there were two IL drivers that collided on 19 in FL... No one else involved.

dude, it's Illinois,....have you ever paid attention to Illinois politics? that retesting of new residents was just some politician trying to get some votes.

And, if they were really interested in safety on the highway, they would begin RETESTING their own citizens every 2 years... And, taking driving priveledges away from any that don't pass.

I'm not extremely familiar with CDL testing, but I do know that Illinois is one of several states that do not accept out-of-state CDL testing. In other words, his friend that lived in Illinois, but went to school in Wisconsin is okay, but in order to make that a valid CDL with Illinois he would have had to complete their CDL testing. I see this quite often with new hires who are not aware of their state's rules. If you are reading this forum and are thinking about attending a driving school out-of-state be sure and check with your state of residence and make sure you will be able to comply with their rules BEFORE you leave for that school. Just a couple of quotes from the Illinois rules, "Requiring commercial drivers from out-of-state to pass the Illinois Commercial Drivers License (CDL) test prior to licensure" and "Requiring third party testing entities to maintain a rating issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation of at least satisfactory or conditional. Any third party entity that has received an unsatisfactory rating from U.S. Department of Transportation shall be prohibited from conducting third party testing pending a subsequent U.S. Department of Transportation rating of satisfactory or conditional."

It still does not seem to be completely clear. The person whose license is in question did take CDL tests in Illinois before being issued a Class-A CDL in Illinois.

Is the new rule that you must undergo ALL CDL testing --including the vehicle inspection and road test in Illinois?


At any rate, the license was not invalid. The Illinois Secretary of State office confirmed that the person
indeed had a valid Class-A CDL the entire time. It was "only" an administrative "glitch".

"Only a glitch" that cost one driver $909 to clear the name and get on with life and livelyhood.
And hopefully will not still lose the job over this anyway.

I'm sure my license is valid, the guy at walmart guaranteed it