BMI – it stands for “Bums Messing up the Industry”

Recently, I spoke with Melissa Theriault of OOIDA’s Washington, DC, office about the CDL Medical Review Board.

The board hatched a harebrained idea about using BMI, or body mass index – an inaccurate measure at best – to determine how likely truckers are to get sleep apnea.

Their plan was to decide whether to give truckers only provisional medical certification if they were above a certain body mass index figure. Under their proposal – now pretty much approved by that board – nearly half of truckers would face provisional certification.

The idea has a lot of truckers’ blood boiling.

Here are just a few of the long list of problems with this scheme:

First, what they call overweight is not what I call overweight. Under their standards, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was Mr. Universe, he was technically obese.

The way they figure body mass index is inaccurate. It should not be used, period.

Melissa told me at one point this was little more than an employment plan for doctors, since it will force truckers to undergo an unnecessary exam year after year. I thought at the time she was exaggerating, but now I’m not so sure she was wrong.

Trust me when I say, OOIDA will fight this wrongheaded idea.