The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) is the publisher of this AAMVA Code Dictionary (ACD) (Release 2.2.0) Manual, which is a set of ACD Codes used nation-wide to identify either (1) the type of conviction or (2) the reason for a withdrawal in messages sent over the AAMVAnet, AAMVA’s proprietary, secure computer network that connects to each Motor Vehicle Agency (MVA) of the 50 U.S. States and the District of Columbia (the jurisdictions).
HISTORY OF THE ACD CODE SET
The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act (CMVSA) of 1986 mandated that a driver who has been disqualified from operating a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) by the State of Record (SOR) must not be able to obtain a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) in any other jurisdiction. The CMVSA also mandated the creation of the Commercial Driver’s License Information System to enable an SOR to maintain and electronically report a complete driver history record of each CDL holder and to enable a State of Conviction (SOC) to electronically report a conviction of an out-of-state driver to the driver’s SOR. In support of the CMVSA and CDLIS, AAMVA and the jurisdictions developed the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) D-20 Code set, which enables driver-licensing authorities to communicate commercial driver’s convictions and withdrawals between jurisdictions. In 1996, because of identified inadequacies of the ANSI D-20 Code set and the long time-frames involved with addressing the inadequacies, AAMVA and the jurisdictions developed and implemented the ACD code set as a replacement for the ANSI D20 code set. In 1997, a few corrections and additions were made to the ACD code set. In 2002 a few codes were added and revised to support the federal regulations requiring disqualifications for specified Railroad Highway-Grade Crossing (RRGC) violations, as mandated by the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (ICCTA) of 1995. In 2005, AAMVA published the ACD (Release 2.1.0), known as the “revised code set”, in which AAMVA culled ACD codes that did not map to traffic safety violations or federal mandates. The revised code set also included the changes required to implement the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act (MCSIA) of 1999 and the Driver License Agreement (DLA).
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE ACD (RELEASE 2.2.0) MANUAL
The purpose of the ACD (Release 2.2.0) Manual is to address jurisdictions’ questions raised since the release of the ACD Manual (Release 2.1.0) about the usage of the ACD code set in the Commercial Driver’s License Information System (CDLIS) (a U.S.-wide system about CDL holders and their driver histories) and in the Problem Driver Pointer Systems (PDPS) (the U.S.-wide system identifying drivers who have been convicted and/or withdrawn for federally specified offenses). The Manual addresses these questions by expanding and clarifying the relevant business rules for using the ACD codes in CDLIS and PDPS.
The scope of the AAMVA Code Dictionary (ACD) (Release 2.2.0) Manual includes a listing of the ACD codes with corresponding descriptions and abbreviations, as approved by AAMVA and implemented by each Motor Vehicle Agency (MVA) in the jurisdictions. Note that AAMVA has not added or retired any ACD codes in the ACD (Release 2.2.0) Manual.
This document also includes an explanation and description of data types related to the ACD codes, such as the Conviction ACD Detail Code, to assist jurisdictions in mapping the ACD codes to their state statutes, to federal regulations, to the Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC), and to the ANSI D-20 Codes. Finally, this document contains the business rules, including retention rules, to assist jurisdictions in using the ACD codes in CDLIS and PDPS.
For a copy of the manual or if you have any questions about this document, please contact the AAMVA Operations Department via telephone (888-AAMVA80) or e-mail Operations Help Desk Mailbox opsdept@aamva.org.