DOT To Mandate All Farm Vehicles Require CDL Licenses, Could Bring Demise To Farmers

It is hard enough to be a farmer as it is. Now Barry is going to make it harder.




In Late May, the DOT proposed a rule change for farm equipment, and if it this allowed to take effect, it will place significant regulatory pressure on small farms and family farms all across America – costing them thousands of dollars and possibly forcing many of them out of business. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), part of the Department of Transportation (DOT), wants new standards that would require all farmers and everyone on the farm to obtain a CDL (Commercial Drivers License) in order to operate any farming equipment. The agency is going to accomplish this by reclassifying all farm vehicles and implements as Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs).

http://patdollard.com/2011/07/dot-t...e-cdl-licenses-could-bring-demise-to-farmers/

 

Farmers around here mostly have someone in their family with a CDL already to take the grain/beans to the elevator.

Getting a CDL really isn't that hard or any sort of big deal.


This means you can't have your 15 year old drive the combine anymore....but that's also kind of a thing of the past......high school farm kids are more often getting jobs in town than helping out on the farm.....there are also fewer family farms anyway and it's getting consolidated into bigger farms.

I really don't expect this to have much of an effect at all. Commercial licenses for what are mostly commercial farms. Actually makes sense to me.

 

A proposal is not a mandate. Calm the (*)(*)(*)(*) down.

 

Its a proposed rule making which means the DOT will be changing the Code of Federal Regulations. It would then be required by law.

http://www.federalregister.gov/arti...or-carrier-safety-regulations-to-operators-of

The comment period ended on June 30th. Now, DOT will "take the comments into consideration" and release the final rule which farmers will be required to follow and subsequently enforced by the various interagency sections of the DOT.

Sooooo, it is a mandate.

 

Another example of the never ending, creative ways government seeks rent and usurps liberty from its subjects.

 

a cdl is just a commercial drivers license..issued to the operetor of the equipment..not issued to the vehicle..for mine in calif it is the same cost as a class 3 drivers license...just 50 more questions...but you have to be 21 to operate a vehicle with a cdl and the blood alcohol is much lower at all all times...

 

So the family has someone with a CDL but that person is out of town when the Gestapo shows up with a surprise inspection and catches the 15-year old driving the tractor.

Imagine the smile on the inspectors face as he writes them a citation.

This is just the heavy hand of government (Obama's heavy hand) oppressing ordinary citizens who waste enough time pacifying lazy and worthless government bureaucrats already.

 

My...Thats some faux outrage. lol.

 

Commerce clause gone wild.

Tenth Amendment secession is coming, you thieves of liberty.

 

It's quite genuine.

There is nothing lower than the average government inspector unless it crawls out from under a rock.

This is why we need to slash the budgets of these morons by at least 20%.

They have far too much time on their hands to harass the public.

 

CDL applies on roads only. On the farm anyone can drive. As someone pointed out earlier most farmers already have a CDL due to the size of their grain and/or livestock trucks.

Bring on the next hysterical hand-wringing topic please...

 

I know. You'd be proud of the government, Montoya. I wonder if the brave men with machine guns who raided the health food store for milk will get medals. They really should, shouldn't they? Maybe even early retirement at full pension for PTSD. And, SWAT from the Department of Education charging into a home at six a.m. and rousting a father and three kids. Makes you proud, doesn't it, Montoya.

 

If this is not a big change then why is the DOT considering it?

There would be log books and other record keeping as well as the expense of having everyone in the family pay a fee and get the license.

 

I take it you are completely unfamiliar with farming.....

I actually can't see that scenario unfolding. The existing CDLs are for grain trucks that haul the corn to town. You could definitely get cited when you are in town with the truck but do not have a license and you do something that would get you pulled over, as you would in your car with a regular license.

The new proposal would make you have to get a CDL if you don't already have one and drive the combine or the end loader. People don't go to town with these and generally only the county sheriff would even potentially go out near the farm. The only scenario I see where a citation would be issued is when somebody was driving on a public road going from field to field and had a mishap or accident of some sort....or was otherwise drawing unusual attention.

Of course this opens the door for some over-exuberant cop to go ask to see your license as soon as you take the combine out of the shed, but then that's always an issue with anything. Policy is generally that police have to have a reason to pull you over. They don't just hit the lights and ask to see your license....or that shouldn't be the case. That's pretty much how it will be if it goes through. A huge crackdown would actually be impractical and unenforceable IMO.


But your gestapo talk is entertaining.....


When I read about farmers complaining about this, I'll listen. To anyone else, I don't think they get it and are just getting bent out of shape on someone else's behalf.

 

Just one more way for the gov't to make it harder on the working man. That's why they call it an Obamanation.

 

OMG logbooks! Farmers are indeed doomed.

 

You didn't read the report I see.

The DOT wants to regulate operation of farm equipment used on the farm not on the public roads.

You were making a big deal about the Tea Party staying out of people's bedrooms how about Obama and his flunkies staying off our land?

 

The level of authoritarian, rent seeking government meddling a leftist will not tolerate has yet to be discovered.

 

You didn't read the proposal I see. It's for farm vehicles operating on public roads.

 

Yes it is a big deal.

Or unreasonable depending on how libs care to look at it.

King George didn't see why the colonists objected to having British troops stay in their home either.

It would be like Obama telling you to take a test, pay for a license and maintain a log book on your coffee pot and toaster.

Which in turn does invite government bureaucrats into your living space to make sure your comply.

 

It's for PUBLIC ROADS.

 

You are mistaken.

The mandate is for operations on the farm not the public roads.

 

Omg you're on here raising hell and you haven't even read the proposal. Even when it's pointed out to you you still don't read it.

Here you go, some spoon feeding for you:

 

Not true.

The new regulation covers farm tractors used on the farm.

But assume it also affects some limited use farm truck hauling hay from one field to a barn two miles away.

That is not a federal road and it really is none of Obama (*)(*)(*)(*) business if the state or county says its OK.

 

Lol. Most people would disappear quietly from the thread after such a large mistake but you go right on posting...