Although the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been slow to act, recent exemptions indicate a growing willingness to fast-track people who passed their CDL examinations.
The country continues to experience an increased demand for qualified truck drivers, and keeping new license holders in limbo before starting jobs has proven counterproductive. Before the recent change of heart, the FMCSA guidelines required a newly licensed truck driver to ride with another CDL-holder until their paperwork was completed and they had it in hand.
This process sometimes involved delays beyond the driver’s control, such as bureaucratic hiccups and having to travel to their home state to physically secure the documents. Given this ran contrary to basic commonsense, clearer heads finally prevailed.
In February, Wilson Logistics received a long-overdue exemption that allows newly-minted drivers to operate heavy-duty vehicles while official documents were being processed and delivered. The Springfield, Missouri, organization experienced the same type of cumbersome delays as workers who passed the CDL examination. Wilson Logistics reportedly filed for the exemption in November 2019. Receiving clearance in 2021 makes the point that government can present obstacles that keep qualified truckers from earning a living. Lengthy delays also hamstring freight carriers from maximizing deliveries.
Allowing CDL-holders to operate rigs while carrying their learner’s permit until the official license arrives seemed like a no-brainer. But in the FMCSA’s defense, they did take some heat for carving out the exemption. Opponents reportedly claimed that Wilson Logistics was merely trying to boost profits by putting inexperienced truckers behind the wheel. That argument fell flat because profit is the fundamental reason people go into business. The FMCSA also pushed back on the following grounds.
“Because these drivers have already met all the requirements for a CDL but have yet to pick up the CDL document from their state of domicile, their safety performance is expected to be the same as any other newly credentialed CDL holder,” the FMCSA reportedly stated.
With the Wilson precedent in hand, the federal agency appears willing to overturn guidelines that create unnecessary freight industry impediments. Werner Enterprises, a Nebraska-based carrier, applied for a similar exemption in July.
“Werner must choose either to wait for the new driver to obtain a CDL from his or her home state before commencing freight movement in an ‘on duty’ status or send the new driver home in an unproductive non-driving capacity,” the company reportedly stated. “The outcome is an inefficiency in the supply chain and a lost employment opportunity for the driver.”
The outfit has reportedly already received approval and new drivers, who passed the skills test, can operate with the learner’s permit while respective DMVs process and distribute CDLs. Given the exemption was processed and approved in under two months, it appears the federal agency is more willing to consider how regulations impact everyday truckers and the freight industry at large.
Sources: freightwaves.com, landline.media
If an shortage in drivers exist then why are companies not seeking those who have been out of trucking extended amounts of time for personal reasons but has CDL’s clean and no accidents, hiring a CDL holder out of school and one who hasn’t driven are both more or less the same both need skills sharpened
Sounds great!! We need more accidents caused by inexperienced drivers. Are towing companies behind this?
You said it
Absolutely. No more driving schools and government subsidies to fund companies to turn loose nothing more than steering wheel holders. Need to go back to 60’s and 70 training under a senior driver for 2 winters and have mechanical background or no go. These new drivers are causing all the ridiculous regulations on us and the foreign drivers who don’t speak our language and are rude, disrespectful people. Sick of these new drivers parking on fuel island, and those who do their 30 min. break on the fuel islands. Where do you find such ignorant people.
This is the problem : It’s not that they want to eliminate some red tape, it’s that there is no rule about training time, no set rules about skills, no evaluation of someone’s mental problems, etc. The first thing the MSF trainer tells you when you pass a motorcycle test is this : You now have a license to ride a motorcycle, which means you are entering the most dangerous year of your life, because you have zero experience – go get more training or at least find an experienced rider to be with so they can teach you all the things you’re doing wrong that could get you killled.
So getting the actual license isn’t a good enough reason to get the driver home? Then what is? The company arranged all the background checks, transportation, lodging, food, training, weeks with a trainer, compensation but now wants the driver out on the road without getting the actual license. Statistics show the longer a driver is out the higher risk of an accident. Especially a new driver.
Right, no experience makes it so much safer.
Who is insuring these companies? Our insurance is up for renewal and they want us to get rid of the young guy with only 2 years experience and the oldest guy (73) because he’s too old. When these 2 are gone call us back.
Self insured thats why there are so many horrible drivers out here
Not enough parking spots for the drivers on the road already,most doing 10 hr breaks on fuel islands 😒
LOL!
🙉
Exactly why I left the Industry after only holding a clean CDL for over 40 years. Opps, Im sorry I got a speeder, sorry. 62 In a 55. Damn unsafe of me. This article is spot on. I left because I became profit rather than being seen as a driver? Yea, go figure. Would somebody please pull their head out of that computer? You really would hear a huge pop. Keep goin ya all, “for profit”. Someone elses profit. LOL
If there hurting on drivers why don’t they let people that had a CDL but let it go for personal reasons get it back without going back to school to get it . I got 28 years safe driving CDL . But can’t afford to go back to school to learn what I already know how to do. I understand a refresher but once you’ve had the license you should be able to get it back with no problem. It’s like I forgot how to drive a truck.
Just hurry up with those automated trucks. Stop trying to sucker young, unassuming people into an industry that puts them at risk of accidentally becoming a criminal for most of the time. And wrecks your health. Show everybody that wants to get into trucking what it REALLY is—especially these young people you’re trying to BS into it. I can’t believe that these trucking companies think they’re really sticking it to the trucker with automated trucks. They keep “threatening” us with them like they think they finally found a way to tell us what for, but also they keep putting off the promised automated trucks. We want them more than the companies, I think. Some threat. If anything, I’ll be laughing my ass off when the arguments over liability and traffic violations can’t center around a human trucker any more, and they have to try to replace all that blame to keep getting the fine money somehow.
Meanwhile, most of us will be retired by the time the job is obsolete, and most of us would want our kids to do something else anyway. Or maybe you happen to be one that wants your kids to be fat, out of shape, divorced, unable to properly raise their own kids, have their property invaded when away from home, constantly subjected to fumes, or to die early from having a screwed up circadian rhythm.