No, having a cdl would not prevent a medical event, but having a cdl requires a medical physical exam performed by a doctor every two years that includes a vision, physical dexterity and urine-drug exam, and a psychological test that asks the question ..... hey there buddy.....why in holy heck do you want to drive a great big truck ..... like why ...... are you totally crazy or just stupid!
Pass the medical test, administered by either an MD or a DO, pay the fee, and you get a NH-DOT Medical Card, required to drive a truck/bus just like a drivers license, and good for two years. When you get stopped by a cop, they want to see license, med card, registration. Driving violations stay on your record for 15-years.
Definitely, requiring a cdl-passenger license for driving the 15-seat mini-bus commonly used by schools, towns, camps, church groups and others would be an unwelcome hurtle for these groups. This is a federal law that gets enforced by the states. If a state want a more stringent law, it can pass one. The federal boundary line between no-cdl, and yes-cdl, is the line drawn between 15-16 seats on the bus, so it's 15-no, and 16-yes, for a cdl. 15 includes the driver, so if the mini-bus has seats for 14 plus a driver seat, then it can be driven with a regular car operator license. If it has seats for 15 plus a driver seat, then a cdl-pass is required, and it is no longer considered to be a mini-bus ........ it is a bus.
Sooner or later, doing a google search for 'Kittery Maine school bus crash' will tell if the driver had a regular car operator's license, or a cdl-passenger license? Me-thinks, knowing what I know, he has just the car operator's license ..... time will tell.
It seems just a wee bit wacky that the driver of a box truck with a gross vehicle weight (truck and freight) of 12,000-lbs and up is required to have a cdl, while the driver of a mini-bus with up to 14 passengers is not ..... how's about that?