Color vision test for DOT physical

I'm also colorblind to a degree and I always fail the Ishihara Dot test horribly. However, if you do poorly with the dots test, they'll offer a solid color test, to see if you can identify blue, green, red and amber. If you can do this, you're fine.

 

Where I go, the person will just point to a few different objects in the room and ask what color they are.

 

I have undergone the DOT physical exams in both North Carolina and Pennsylvania and suffer the same shortcomings as Honch with respect to the Ishihara Dot test. One testing facility in North Carolina used the "alternate" test described by rogueunh and others brought out a sheet with red, green and amber (yellow) sections. All "alternate" tests in Pennsylvania used the sheet with the colors in specific, separate sections. Does this apply to Arkansas? Don't know, but at least you now know alternatives are available to examiners.

 

Exactly what constitutes color blindness as far as D.O.T. requirements are concerned? Please advise.

 

The actual FMCSA regulation...

Can you read that?

The medical doctor at the physical will ask you like said above. I'm thinking my last one had the three colors on the vision chart. It's not like they use a machine at the DMV and look at dots. The main concern is to recognize traffic signals and signs which is pretty much standard without color differences.

 

Color blindness is different from color weakness. I ran into this same problem when I took my FAA physical for my student pilot license. Color blindness means there are certain (or all) colors that you absolutely can't see because you are missing the rods and/or cones in your eyes to receive that color. Color weakness means that you have all of the rods and cones that you need in your eye to see every color BUT you have fewer of one or the other so it makes it hard to distinguish between certain colors. Such as most dark blues, dark greens, dark reds, etc look black to me. I have no problem seeing colors but I can't see the images in the ishihara dot plates. I ended up having to go to the FSDO and taking a "light gun test". They stood me in a parking lot at 500ft and shot a red light, green, and a white light at me. Then again at 1500ft. Maybe there is a test like that for DOT. When I took my DOT physical, I could see the images on the dot plates just fine. No clue how that happened.

 

Every time I've ever taken it they just asked me to identify red and green bars on the standard vision test poster with all of the letters you had to read. Never had to identify amber. Then again, I've taken 5 different medical exams at 5 different places in two years and other things are different between them all so I'm sure vision tests can be as well.

I'm deaf in one ear so that's always been my concern, even though it's still legal. I've had a real audio test, whisper test and one doctor that said since I'm having a conversation with him I can obviously hear and I'm good. You just never know. I even had to argue with one doctor who tried to disqualify me for it and after about 15 minutes of reading the regs to him and arguing he finally agreed with me.

 

What are the hearing standards for all truck drivers?

 

I thought that all truck drivers must have very good hearing in BOTH ears. Please advise.