§382.303 mandates a post-accident alcohol and drug test for drivers involved in certain CMV accidents:
Test required if:
- Any human fatality, regardless of citation status; or
- Bodily injury treated away from the scene and the CMV driver was issued a citation under state or local law for a moving violation arising from the accident; or
- Disabling damage requiring tow-away and the CMV driver was issued a moving-violation citation arising from the accident.
The two clocks
- Alcohol test: within 8 hours of the accident
- Controlled substances test: within 32 hours of the accident
If either test cannot be administered within its window, the carrier must document why in writing and retain that documentation for 1 year per §382.401(b)(3). "Inability to test" is a narrow exception — local logistics challenges typically don't qualify.
Audit consequence
Post-accident testing is not itself on the §385.321(b) automatic-failure table, but it sits squarely in the drug-and-alcohol program area a safety audit scores under Appendix A to Part 385 — and having no testing program at all (§382.115) is an automatic failure. The finding doesn't require a positive result — it requires only that a triggering accident occurred and no documented test exists.
How to prevent it
- Train dispatch and ops on the triggering criteria. The citation-required prong is the most commonly misremembered.
- Have a 24/7 collection-site relationship — most TPAs offer this.
- After every triggering accident, file the test result (or the documented inability) within 72 hours.
How Roadworthy HQ helps
When an accident is recorded, the database works out whether it is DOT-recordable and whether §382.303 testing is triggered, and sets the 8-hour alcohol and 32-hour drug deadlines from the accident time. The deadlines show on the accident list and the accident's own page, and critical alerts go out by email (and SMS if you opted in) when the accident is entered. The post-accident result is recorded on the driver's Drug & Alcohol tab; the accident page cannot yet link that result to clear its own deadline, so check both.