Cdl Disqualification

One more thing to add.... the OP did not say what he was busted for. Let's say he got busted for hauling a 53 foot box packed full of marijuana. Well, I could see where a charge like that would disqualify a person from ever driving with a CDL again. We can debate all day if marijuana should be legal ( I think it should be.). If he has a simple possession charge, then yeah I agree the TX law is insane. Sadly, if that is the case, it is the law. It does not matter if we agree with the law. We have two choices in that case, call a senator or representative, or form a lobby and try to get the law changed. Or, we have to live with the law and work within it.

The problem is not weather or not it's a felony. It's the lifetime ban that Texas put on the CDL for renewal. We all know there is a waiting period for convictions. No question about it. Felonies do have to wait. Have no problem with that. Main problem is being banned from a choose field that you are trained in.

With all that being said if you can't get a CDL and all this took place before getting the CDL then this whole post is moot. But if it happened after you had already driven a truck and started a career then that is where the problem lays.

But looking at it from a different point of view it may turn out the ban will stand do to laws in Texas and if that is the case then the OP with just have to accept than and find another career path.

This is about professionalism!

Keep a few things in mind:

1) You don't have to admit it, but you (like me and almost all of us) have done things at some point in your life that would land you in jail if you had gotten caught. Don't pretend otherwise.

2) Once you become a truck driver you will break laws just about every day of your life out there whether you intend to or not. Maybe you'll accidentally roll a little too fast down a hill. Maybe you won't come to a complete stop at a stop sign. Sometimes you'll get distracted and drift into another lane.

Other times you're going to load heavy loads at shippers and you're going to have to drive them illegally to get to a truck stop so you can weigh out the load and get the axles balanced properly. The shippers usually don't have scales. You'll have no choice but to knowingly drive illegally for a while until you can get legal. And if you get caught? You personally have to pay the fine. "But that's not fair you say!" Well, then don't break the law.

Listen, the dude got caught with weed. Let's not stop the presses and crucify him. It's weed for God's sake. If he had driven drunk and ran through the front door of a daycare center we wouldn't be trying to help him get back out there. But he didn't.

I'm tellin ya - there are a LOT of gray areas in the trucking industry and you're going to do a lot of illegal things like all of us have. So just reserve judgment until you get some experience out there and then see what you think about throwing the book at someone every time they break a law.