Is this the law

[Rock knocker]

Troopers don't write tickets based on federal law. There are actually no federal laws about this, rather, there are federal regulations which the states follow. If there is a requirement to have a medical card, it will be in your state law, and the trooper should have noted the section of the law that you violated. Look at your ticket and see what he wrote down.

Note that federal regulations are only applicable to vehicles used in interstate commerce. The fed.gov has no authority to regulate driving within your state.

I did a quick check and I think the trooper is misapplying the CDL requirement:



Medical | Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Note that this is for commercial drivers licensees, not just anybody with a vehicle over 10k pounds. But since you have a CDL, this may apply to you.

Read your ticket.

It's not a just a CDL requirement, it also applies to drivers of what the FMCSA refers to as commercial vehicles but do not require a CDL, namely vehicles over 10K in interstate commerce. Some states adopt these requirements into state statute. But if the OP was not in commerce, no law was broken

 

[sam5570]

:laughing:

Any time you are pulling a trailer over 10,000 lbs, even if you are under 26,001 lbs combined... IF used in commerce... That is still considered a commercial vehicle.

A CDL is not required if under 26,001 but you still need a medical card.

The ticket was justified IF BEING USED IN COMMERCE.

Tell your buddy to set up a court date, go to his doctor and get a medical card, and bring that to the court. Have him explain to the judge that he was unaware of the law and he is sorry, but he has since acquired his medical card to be compliant. The judge will likely dismiss the ticket and give him a small Court fine for being there.

You are exactly right the key word here being commercial and he was a business so he is guilty as charged. Tyhis was just something that he or I had failed to here anything about when it went into affect or anytime after. Thanks to everyone for your input and information I even got a spelling lesson out of it.

 

[Rock knocker]

This was just something that he or I had failed to hear anything about when it went into affect

Yea, like 1990.

Just look up the law to make sure that commercial vehicle drivers in West Virginia (or is it south-west Virginia?) do in fact require a med card when in intra-state commerce. The ticket will address which law was broken. Look up that law and check it's applicability.