A short note in the Federal Register announced on Tuesday that the controversial entry-level driver training rule has been delayed for a third time.
The rule was initially delayed until March 21st following a directive from President Trump that all new regulations which have not yet gone into effect should be frozen. The rule was then delayed until March 22nd, and now has been further delayed until June 5th. It is unclear if the DOT is awaiting further instructions from the White House or is planning to delay the rule indefinitely.
While the industry has been expecting regulations regarding minimum training requirements for commercial drivers for years now, the regulation that was finally passed isn’t what was hoped for by many. In fact, it’s not even what the DOT published in their proposed rulemaking.
Until the final rule was published, the requirements for a new driver included a minimum number of hours spent training behind-the-wheel. It was designed to prevent so-called ‘CDL mills’ from pumping out new drivers who were barely able to pass a skills test, let alone safely drive OTR on their own.
When the final rule was published, the hours requirement was removed entirely. Many large carriers and the American Trucking Association praised the move, saying it would have made it more difficult to hire new drivers and would have made the driver shortage worse. Safety advocates cried foul, but since the switch wasn’t made until the rule was finalized, there wasn’t anything to be done.
States are now taking matters in to their own hands, and the California state senate passed a bill requiring CDL applicants to meet certain requirements – including spending at least 30 hours in behind-the-wheel training.
Source: gobytrucknews, fleetowner, gpo, safetyandhealthmagazine, constructionequipment
Yes pumping drivers out of these mega trucking companies like Swift and CR england should have been stoped long ago. This only shows how much they don’t care about public saftey!
I was in orientation once and there was a new driver that had just gotten out of school and he couldn’t drive a manual trans.
That’s okay…there are automatics to drive…no need for them to learn how to drive a “stick” shift..ifvthe can drive a automatic truck safely like we who can drive both…okay
There is NO driver shortage.
What DOES exsist is too many companies unwilling to pay wages commensurate with job and all the downsides and dangers inherently associated with this line of work.
Until the wages go up, we will continue to see more and more drivers who are less than suited to the job, lacking skills, education, and an intellect capable of safely operating a 40 ton death machine.
You write there is NO driver shortage these companys don’t pay any money these company talk a good game 48 to 53 cents a mile but you don’t get 1500 miles a week and it’s all short haul you spend 60% of your time back up at a dock loading or unloading for no money you will spend anywhere from 4 to 6hrs trying to get unloaded so there you go making 4 to 5 hundred dollars a week after taxes and insurance comes out and these companys wonder why there equipment gets tore up and there insurance is sky high I got certin places I park in these truck stops so theses dumb ass don’t run in to me
Well I know that’s not true. My company pays very well and better than most in the area and yet we need drivers!!!
Who do you drive for?
There is a shortage, just because is not worth doing this job for this little money. Until all truckers shut it down for at least 3 days, things are going to get worse.
While most states require “behind the wheel” experience for operating a personal vehicle before issuing a license, wouldn’t it make sense that driving a 40+ ton vehicle fall into that same category? As noted on numerous occasions, young drivers treat the CMV they are driving as a 4 ton vehicle, tailgating, whipping in and out of traffic, etc… With an 80% turnover rate it would make sense to do a better vetting process but as long as the larger carriers refuse to pay competitive wages and provide more home time this cycle will only get worse and EVERYBODY suffers
I hope at least some of that “behind the wheel time” is spent learning how to back up into a dock. I’ve watched until I couldn’t laugh any more because my sides were hurting on three separate occasions as new drivers, all using automatic transmissions, tried backing into docks. Two of these docks involved a simple 50 foot straight line backup. I finally got tired of laughing and gave what help the “driver” would take (it’s hard to help someone who won’t listen). Driving forward with an automatic trans is easy. It’s the rest of the driving that separates the “schools” from the “license mills”.