Dot Physical

Going to be taking my dot physical in a few does. First one I ever had. I am insulin dependent. I have the MCSA-5870 form filled out by my primary doctor verifying my sugar is under control and see no issues.

My blood pressure is reading 160/92

I cant read the numbers in the colored dots but have no trouble seeing colors by themselves.

Can I still pass the physical?

There's quite a bit of information you'll be interested in.

DOT Physical - Driver Exemptions

Blood Pressure Requirements For The DOT Physical

You have some issues, as you know, that might be answered in those links.

I hope these help. Up at the top left there's a three -line menu that will take you all over this website.

The DOT physical does not do a color blind test. They do a "what color is the stoplight" test

Your blood pressure cannot be over 140/90, so you will fail the physical. You will be told to go to your own doctor and have the high BP corrected first.

If you had your CDL already, it would be downgraded to a 1, 2 or 3 mth card. My top number was 150 and the bottom number was always less than 85. Took me two months trying a couple different meds to get that top number down into the high 130s. Changed my way of eating to Carnivore and it has stayed in the low 130's/76-80.

Hope it doesn't take you long to get that under control.

Jeff,

If your current blood pressure is consistently near or at the 160/92 mark, then you should strongly consider lowering it prior to the DOT physical, especially in order to receive the full 2-year medical certification. Errol V. provided a link in his response, "blood pressure requirements for the DOT physical," review it. According to this information, your 160/92 classifies as either a BP stage 1 or BP stage 2, which equates to a 1-year or 3-month medical certification, respectively.

Also noteworthy, Kearsey is correct. There is no colors "number" test; instead, there is the standard red, green and amber "traffic control signal" colors test (left eye, right eye or both).

FMCSA Driver Safety & Health - Medical Requirements - Hypertension

Also, if the physician gets you a 3 month card, it's not renewable. The 90 day card is a warning to you to get your BP under control (<140 systolic) and in the meantime still keep your job.

It's not hard to get that BP down and keep it there. Your doctor will know what to prescribe.

Just clarify some thing on the color blindness issue.

Although it's not typical of a DOT physical, some doctors can and will issue the Ishihara plate test.

The office that passed my first med card, for the carrier, failed me on the simple color test at renewal and made me take the ishihara plate test, which I failed as well. The doctor asked me who gave me my previous card. When I pointed out that he did, and he examined the signature (his signature). He then passed me.

Even if you have taken a dot test and have a current card, almost all carriers will have you take a new test and get a new card at a doctor of their choice. It's part of the game of life.

I am absolutely not recommending one do this, but I do know of an individual that memorized the plates, in order and simply recited them, paying special attention to the page. There are 15 plates, and a bonus 9 plate that is never given. What this individual told me was that as long as he knew which page he was being shown, he would know which number he was supposed to see, and or not supposed to see.

Again though, I absolutely do not recommend one do that, even though a quick cursory search will show the answers and page numbers in an easy to download format, it could be construed as fraudulent.

Most DOT exams simply test for the ability to differentiate three distinct colors, the colors don't have to be the correct ones, in effect they could be white, orange and brown, as long as they are different. But it is certainly possible to get a doctor on a bad day that will not pass a color vision deficiency.

If that does happen, there's a form that can be downloaded from fmcsa that can be taken to an optometrist that will have to perform several tests including pressure and others, but the optometrist can sign off on the ability to differentiate colors. It's difficult to find one willing to do so and youre better off trying your luck with a doc experienced with DOT physicals.

When I converted my Calif license to Filipino license, my vision test was seeing the hidden numbers in a pixled screen on her PC lol easy peasy.

Back in Cali for my 1st DOT physical, I couldn't read past line 5 on the dang chart. My vision slightly worse after many decades on computer screens daily for hours on end. Had to scramble for eye dr to get cheapo plastic glasses, which I read the chart down to line 9 with lol.....

Yet, in the real world, I can see far down the roads, shocking my friends if we're looking for a place, say in Vegas. I can spot the signage etc, down the road long before they could. I must admit the glasses did sharpen my vision, but I didn't really need or use them much driving. I do need & use reading glasses for reading the menus and most printed stuff.

Gettin' old does suck at times lol @ least I have good health !