DOT Physical Readiness Check

Part of Driver Files & Medical

Two of the thirteen physical qualification standards are numbers. If you know your last eye test and hearing test, you can check both here in a minute and fix a correctable problem before it costs you an appointment.

Your numbers against the standard

Only the two measurable standards in §391.41(b) are checkable this way. The other eleven conditions are the examiner's clinical judgement and no calculator can stand in for them.

Left eye, distant acuity20/40 Snellen, with or without correction
20/30
Right eye, distant acuity20/40 Snellen, with or without correction
20/40
Horizontal field of vision70° each eye
80°
Colour recognitionstandard red, green and amber traffic signals
Red, green, amber
Whispered voice, better ear5 ft
5 ft
Audiometric average loss≤ 40 dB
25 dB

Measurable standards missed

0

Both numeric standards met on the figures entered.

Low-poly render of a blood-pressure cuff on a clinic table
The cuff, the chart, and two numbers that are yours to know.

What it checks — and what it cannot

It checks the vision standard in §391.41(b)(10) and the hearing standard in (b)(11). That is all it can honestly do. Blood pressure, cardiovascular history, respiratory function, diabetes, epilepsy, mental health and substance use are the other eleven conditions, and every one of them is a clinical judgement made by the examiner in front of you.

A clean result here is not a prediction. It means the two measurable standards are met on the figures you typed — nothing more.

Worked example

A driver reads 20/30 left and 20/60 right with their current glasses. The right eye misses the standard, so the exam would not certify on the standard pathway — but an up-to-date prescription very often closes a gap that size, and the driver has four weeks before the card expires.

If correction cannot close it, the alternative vision standard exists precisely for this driver, at a 12-month certification interval instead of 24. Either way, finding out now costs an optician appointment; finding out in the examiner's chair costs the appointment and the weeks after it.

The rule it comes from

49 CFR §391.41(b)(10) — distant visual acuity of at least 20/40 in each eye with or without correction, binocular acuity of at least 20/40, a field of vision of at least 70° in the horizontal meridian in each eye, and recognition of standard red, green and amber traffic signals. §391.41(b)(11) — first perceives a forced whispered voice in the better ear at not less than 5 feet, or an average loss no greater than 40 dB at 500, 1000, 2000 Hz.

Sources

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