In order to be an interstate commercial truck driver, you need to be at least 21 years old. But large carrier organizations have been lobbying Congress to lower the age requirement to 18 for years. Now, there have been two bills introduced which would effectively do just that.
Allowing younger drivers behind the wheel of large trucks has been seen as a safety concern. But sponsors of the bill are trying to sell it as a training program to make drivers safer. To help with that branding problem, they have named it the Developing Responsible Individuals for a Vibrant Economy (DRIVE-Safe) Act.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Congress introduced bills in both the House and Senate last year with the same name. This year, there are new twin companion bills in the House and Senate that appear almost exactly the same as the bills from last year.
Under the DRIVE-Safe Act, under-21 drivers would be referred to as “apprentices” and face certain increased training and regulatory requirements. Apprentices must:
- Earn their CDL
- Complete at least 400 hours of on-duty time. Of that, at least 240 hours must be spent driving with an experienced driver in the cab with them.
- Operate a CMV that has a speed limiter set to no higher than 65 miles per hour
- Operate a CMV with active braking collision mitigation systems
- Operate a CMV with forward-facing video cameras
After fulfilling those requirements, apprentices will be given the same rights and privileges as a driver over the age of 21.
Critics of the bills point to research which shows that younger drivers are significantly more likely to be involved in accidents than drivers over the age of 21. There are also concerns that only large carriers will have the systems in place to accommodate the apprentice program. This could lead to megacarriers hiring younger, less expensive, and less safe drivers. This could in turn lower rates and pay across the industry.
But the forty national trade associations and large companies that have signed on in support call the bills a “common-sense solution” which would help address the ‘driver shortage.’ ATA President and CEO Chris Spear called the bills “critically important to the American economy.”
While the push to lower the interstate driving age wasn’t successful last year, it’s already seeing more progress this year. Colorado has even passed legislation allowing for under-21 truckers to drive interstate once it’s allowed by federal law.
Source: truckinginfo, truckinginfo, fleetowner, overdrive, truckersreport, truckersreport, truckersreport, truckersreport, Congress, prnewswire
Someone please tell me where they got this “good idea” machine from, was it google? Our govt keeps cranking out one brilliant idea after another. First it was changing the HOS, then we needed to consecutive days off from 1 am to 5 am, then they scratched that. Now they are going to reform the HOS.
I wonder how long it will take them to repeal this one? And how much money they’ve wasted because the morons have ZERO trucking experience that write these bills?
Lobists all they do is pay government agencies and influence the ignorant and.desperate.government to.bent.at.they.will.. teens behind.18.wheelers.. will.be deadly as it can.be….sad news
Shogun I totally agree 100% what a bunch of freaking idiots the blogs below this must be a bunch of morons that can’t read this article is on 18-year-olds not dashcams And as long as we take these idiot regulations the government is going to keep throwing them out there at us so it’s our fault for not standing up against it
This ONLY about mega carriers reaping more money and forcing owner operators out or to come to them.
Drivers 18+ isn’t a bad idea. As a trainer I don’t like the forward facing camera. It’s why I quit training for now. I’ll be buying my truck soon and then the company can’t make me put a forward facing camera in here. This is my house and I won’t do it. Or I’ll just refuse to train the drivers under 21.
As a trainer, how many years or miles do you have solo under you? Just curious, because a lot of the mega fleets feel if you have 6 months of not hitting anything you are eligible to be a trainer which in my mind is ludacris.
Even 6 years not enough for good trainer.
At list 10 years excellent driving then should become trainer.
That’s the standard still
Dammit boy you beat me to the punch,your absolutely right, anybody that drives for the bottom feeders can be a “trainer” in two short weeks, then they strut around with their Bluetooth on their head hoping someone will call to further enhance their vision of themselves. After 32 years and 4 1/2 million miles of chicken truckin I finally had enough but occasionally read up to see just how stupid these rookies are, they have no clue that one man can go coast to coast and be home on the weekend.
Actually a lot of big carriers will make a driver a trainer after a month and that’s them just being on their own after being with a trainer. The roads are going to continue to get more dangerous
Why don’t you like a forward facing camera? (Out the windshield filming traffic) I could understand not wanting a rearward (inward) facing camera…
But what do you see as a downside of an outward facing camera?
As someone that had one forced upon me it is just one more way for the company to micromanage you. I have gotten emails demanding I leave more following distance when I’m in bumper to bumper traffic and been told that I should anticipate cars cutting me off from 2 lanes to my left so I don’t have to hit my breaks. As long as 4 wheelers won’t be held accountable there is only so much you can do to have 0 hard breaking and it is near to impossible driving in dallas where I do much of my driving to keep 400÷ feet of follow distance because if you have 30 feet in front of you someone will squeeze in.
My answer is..cameras,.ELD, HOS should.be at.drivers.discretion … just another way to.waste.money on unnecessary.stuff. such.eat.and shop at truck.stops… paying 10x.more for.they cheap.food and.stuff..
CYA front cam is definitely worth having, it’s up to driver to prove his or her case,
but get “Driver legal”, $13 bucks a day for piece of mind is well worth it, they go to court while u keep driving!
Because it is never truth, There are always lies. Never as they say! Forward? Then you find out it was watching you and recording sound. Your phone calls or whatever. Right, I do not trust anyone!
How long have been a trainer? You don’t sound like much of a trainer. Putting a 18 year old behind a wheel that knows nothing about this equipment and how fast they can kill is like putting a gun in their hand. Then you talk about the camera. I would rather have the camera instead of a 18 year old behind the wheel. At least the camera not going to get me killed. I know why you don’t like the camera it’s because you are a unsafe driver. The camera is there for the protection not only for us but for the four wheeler also.
From what you have said you need to think before you buy a truck. You don’t sound like you have been out here on the road for long. I would say maybe at the tops no more than a year if that. And I know you have not been training for long. Some big companies put drivers as trainers with less than 6 months and call y’all a trainer, bull.
The reason most don’t want the camera, is they don’t want their company to see how bad they truly drive.
Wrong.
The camera is a recording device. Most record video and audio.
In the event of some kind of incident, however minor and even if it doesn’t involve another vehicle, the recordings can and have been used against the driver.
Black box (electronic logging) installed? Most of THOSE record “excessive braking” and “sudden deceleration” events. Match those events up to video that’s been dat/time stamped, and now you’ve got the company breathing down your neck with “Why did you…” and “Why didn’t you” questions.
No owner/operator needs that micromanagement.
I drove a company truck (POS) for my first year and a half. The rest of the time I was an owner /operator and you’re right, we don’t need all that shit. Having to respond to the Qual-com was bad enough. Besides. I had a forward looking camera of my own in my truck. Picked it up at a Friendly Pilot T/S. The first thing I would tell a new Fleet Manager, I’m a low maintenance driver. Don’t bother me if you don’t have to.
Ryders cameras record the front and in cab plus audio..Sux..
Well the only thing a front facing camera would tell them is if you follow too close, all the big fleets have sensors for undue motion (rollover) most for speed and especially fuel & tire pressure as well. Mostly protects the driver.
The military gives them a gun at 18.
That is true, but they have adult supervision 24/7.
A live in baby sitter
The military also teaches the discipline necessary to operate that gun properly. Who will teach the discipline to the non-military teens?
As a former drivers instructor, trainer and road safety supervisor, i say that’s isn’t such.thing as.driver trainer…just a a excuse to.run JIT/Hot loads on trainers truck as team.drivers.. its all lies, they give a driver a student.and for.few.weeks they.will.run.team loads. Hot.loads, JIT loads. While trainers make.all the extra.mile. the.student is overworked and.get.no.knowledge on the industry… and.gets.worse than that
Perfectly stated, absolutely nothing to do with safety or training for the driver, just a new way to take advantage of the 1930’s by the mile pay scam, while no pressure on shippers for how they impact safe truck driving with their systemic disregard for our hours restrictions.
What about the part that no one ever talks about? Can a driver that young, no matter the training keep composure when a dangerous or bad situation comes up? Winter weather for example, tire blow out, mountain grade? That composure could mean life or death at that very moment. It is too bad no one ever realizes how weight and motion works and that is dangerous.
Why won’t you want a FORWARD facing camera, unless you drive like a moron and don’t want it recorded
The forward facing camera only protects the driver. There’s a big scam in the country where a car is filled with people, they get on the road and find a big truck, (victim) cut in front of it and hit the brakes. Then go back to the lawyers and chiropractors that are working with the group to complete the scam.
It is called the “swoop and squat”. It is an insurance scam that used to be big in the late 80,s to the 2000’s. If you are not aware it still could happen.
You don’t like the camera because you’re a bad driver and it will prove that to your company. I love the cameras, they have saved me from trouble many times by proving me in the right.
Why are.you.judging and.accusing someone just because they do.not.like something…prejudice, allegations, should.not.be among us drivers. Its.bad.enough being, prejudiced,pursued, discriminated by every one.else… this.industry is.going from bad to.worse…
Oh yeah, being a trainer is the one big bright spot in the law, IF you can deal with the worry & fear, great pay. Right refuse to train the obvious fools, stay alive!
But safety? Once Swift found I had previous experience at my trainers first review, suddenly we were an air freight driving team, Fed-X Los Angeles to Fed-x New Jersey (their freight overflow) back & forth non stop, I’m getting $50 a day, while my trainer, with less miles than I had, is getting all my miles AND all of his, but I needed backing! My trainer was making 100 grand a year, and he would go home for days every other week, took me months to finish my training, and I never got any backing except when he was asleep, I practiced. That’s what constitutes training….yeah real safe…NOT!
Recipe for cheap labor!!! Plain and simple!!! If the insurance companies have anything to do it. It will be hard for smaller carriers or non self insured carriers won’t be able to hire 18 year old.
One Additional thing, if they think that this will fix the driver shortage overbite, they don’t seem to get it!! Most 18 years old will not want be out on the road for 3-4 weeks at time away from their family and friends making 35k a year! They can make that working at Homedepot, Walmart, or McDonald’s and go home every day!
It’s all about the insurance companies. More drivers = more money in the insurance companies pockets. The younger the drivers pay more insurance.
Desperation, they prefer pay.more.insurance.premiums them increase drivers pay and benefits benefits are imperative but.no one.offers, when.they.do.e.way.to.expensive
It does not affect the giant fleets insurance costs at all, smaller carriers yes, but for Swift etc not significant. However, the majors negatively effect the insurance rates for small to midsize carriers. How convenient.
They want to eliminate independent owner ops, long term government plot to lower shipping costs across the industry, just like breaking the teamsters hold on trucking in the 60’s. All the same agenda as always
Who out there as men at that age are going to be away for so long? They have too much partying and girl chasing to do. Furthermore as I have seen over many years here it is going to be rare to hold a marriage and watch your family grow up. There are more important thing in life than the GREED of the mega carriers, because no matter what they say, they DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR LIFE!
The reason carriers want 18 year old drivers is they’ll work cheaper.
They.will.work.6.month.for.free… according to.above rule…and.ao.called.trainer will.get.double mileage for.each mile runned. Thats.ridiculous but.anything coming.from.FMCSA.AND.DOT. is.ridiculous…they.have no.idea.on.what.trucking is.about…
.
Well they know how to take advantage of us, that’s the one part they do know, & our government is happy to help them do that.
Where do you get 6 mths ? If they’re putting in the 70 hr a week that’s 6 weeks, not 6 months. Which is a lot worse
It’s all BS. There is NO driver shortage. If there were a true driver shortage, the rates would be much higher. Currently the average rate on load boards is $1, that’s not enough for me to even start my truck let alone drive it.
No, I don’t believe there is a driver shortage, it’s made up by mega carriers yo getvthis agenda passed in order to pay lower wages.
And.that.causes.shortage… this was.the.reason.i.sold my.trucks and.trailers.. 2.75 a.miles plus.20,00 a.stop. isnt.enough to.run a.metro.delivery.trucking
Truly said. If there were, truck stops would not be full in the middle of the day!
Just a way to keep driver wages down. Time to get in the wrecker business. Wonder if Jamie Davis is hiring?
Good point sir! I dont know if i could stand to see the carnage on a daily basis…let alone several times a day…this is a BAD IDEA! when i was 18?? No way!!
I was thinking the same thing, when I was 18 I considered myself a pretty good driver, but I don’t think I would have thought the same had I gotten behind the wheel of a big rig.
Pay a driver what he is actually work and there would be no so called “Driver Shortage”. This is just something the mega fleets complain about in order to fill more seats so the can haul more freight for a cheaper price than anyone else in order to make a larger profit.
Exactly..mega carriers bribing officials to do whatever they want, including killing innocent people on the highways. When does it stop?
Okay, why aren’t you out showing millennials how great it is to hold a steering wheel and stare at a straight highway road for 10 hours a day?
Do they care about safety any more or just f. Money?
Safety is only a concern as an expence. Dead people mean nothing. You can never get money-people to understand that good cages get quality people and cost goes down.
I think that this idea is a total waste of time. 18? Really? Yeah it cheap labor, which is why it is so appealing to the mega-carriers, but really? Could you imagine a parent allowing their son or daughter to do this at the age of 18? It would be like a kid telling his mother and father, “Hey, I just signed up for the military, and ill be going off to war, I might not make it back, so here’s your sign mom and dad”. I don’t know I guess if they get their “Regular Learners Permit” when they turn 15-16 y/o, then I suppose they would have 2-3 years of “Driving Experience” under their belts. But putting 100,000 lbs. down the highway at 55-65 mph? No! Backup cameras, Forward Facing Cameras, Lane Departure Technology, I don’t care. It will not help an untrained mind that isn’t even near full development yet. I could go on and on; at least 20 more reasons why not to let this Bill pass.
i noticed that Robert didn’t answer for question on how long he’s been driving!Hmmmm. makes you wonder!
They think there’s a shortage now just wait until you all do your taxes and figure out they took your per diem away.
Not exactly how it works. Your per diem can be controlled by the company you work with. If you’re being screwed out of it it’s on them.
I just did my taxes. NO PER DIEM, PERIOD. The Congress concept of a tax reform is $24,000 deduction. No marriage, child, food, entertainment, etc deductions for the next couple of years.
I used to get a substantial refund. This year, $1800. Not only hurts drivers but also the clergy, salesmen, and anyone else who travels for work.
A tax refund is simply the government admitting it stole of what you earned than it was legally entitled to steal. NO ONE should get any “refund” and there should be NO deductions, exceptions or exemptions. You get to keep more during the year. What’s the problem with that?
Wait, seriously per deim has been removed from the tax code!!!
Is that what you are saying?!!?
Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul, well if that’s the case I’m sure glad I’m done, that’s absurd.
Since when does clergy pay taxes
Wait! U control your per diem!
Refuse their in-house program, u CAN do that legally, I don’t care what they “sell” you.
Screw them, keep your own expense records, don’t involve your carrier! Take them to YOUR tax man! u are allowed the government rate….it’s like $50 a day! W-2 or independent it doesst matter, u are away from your domicile for extended periods, that’s the only requirement for reimbursement from the government. Think about it, free $. Most guys can easily live on $20 a day, that’s an extra $30 every single day u drive!
I added several thousands $ to my yearly pay!
I asked May trucking “oh, we don’t have per deim anymore, no one wanted it”. What?!!?😳. Either that’s a full on lie, or drivers are getting really lame about government rules that benefit them financially.
I’ve been OTR for 3 years now.
I have never gotten per diem.
H&R Block does my taxes & says the per diem doesn’t mean anything tax wise unless I itemize everything for the entire past year. Yeah, I didn’t keep all my receipts so I guess I just don’t get it.
I would love to know what 18 yr old is going to give up partying with friends staying up late for this.
That’s going to be the thing party all night then climb into the seat and see how cars they can run over.
It’s time for retirement.
No way to avoid government stupidity.
This is not an office work.
At first they mandate eld whit what every driver became race driver, all the time in rush and I don’t know anybody who’s shift ending at 5pm but he shut down at 4pm becouse if he can’t get home on time he will sleep two corners far from home.
And now they want young people to set behind 80000 pounds truck.
Man with 21 year thinking better then 18 year man, sorry but that’s fact and at list if anybody goes 3 years in car before he get into truck is much better.
Like I said before good luck to all of us, time for retirement or changing profession.
An old saying, “Dead people can’t sue!”. That is exactly what organizations supporting this position think. If one of the bills passes then I’m sure there will be another limiting law suits against carriers that employ these minors. Old enough to go war, old enough to drive OTR but not old enough to buy cigarettes and lottery tickets in some states. Also what happens if they are given a load with alcohol? Minor in possession transporting across states lines. You might even have to change hazmat laws.
Not a good idea! If they were to pay a living wage they wouldn’t have a issue. No 18 year old will give up their video games to drive otr.
With the recent unleashing of unmanned operation through GPS technology the career of a newly trained adolescent would be short lived. Trucking companies only concern is profit, at any cost. Its soon to be a dead end career as all major companies will initiate this system. My advice to the young is to find another occupation.
This is a crazy idea and maybe I am crazy but I personally think 21 is to young it should be 25
Big mistake.They do not even have enough time driving a car to learn weather conditions and most 18 year olds these days do not even have the responsibility to clean there room and still want to party. I have been driving for 33 years and have seen some drivers over 21 that have only driven a couple years that I would avoid being near on the highway. As far as sitting in the jump seat with an 18 year old driving,,you could not pay me enough.I had issues with teaching my kids to drive and ridding with them.As far as forward facing cameras,good idea,as long as it goes through a third party system so it can not be tampered with,it only shows outside.
Great, get kids dependant on trucks with automatic transmissions and collision avoidance systems, so when something actually goes wrong, they won’t know what to do.
I’m driving one of the new trucks with adaptive cruise control and active brake assist. They’re great tools (when they work) however they’re still not a replacement for good experience. I learned in a good somewhat modern truck, a 2007 Kenworth T600, and it was a great foundation to my trucking career. I have a feeling that starting people off that young will, for a majority of people, be a bad idea. There are exceptions of course, like I’ll trust anyone who grew up on their fathers land and worked around heavy equipment since they were a kid. But they’ll also be properly disciplined and have good work ethic. But nowadays you get most kids who can’t get off their phones with fake relationships and inflated egoes, I would expect to see a large increase in distracted driving.
…I’m only 30 and I’m starting to sound like an old fuddy-duddy.
So how quickly do you think we start seeing the more predatory of the major carriers at high school career fairs.
There’s going to be a huge rise in trucking accidents because of this. The vast majority of young adults (18-21) think their invincible already. Add this age group to the CDL mills and the trucking industry will be bent over for every policy maker looking to make a name for themselves.
Distracted drivers on phones and pure ignorance in driving around semi’s is already a daily issue for truckers so lets add inexperience behind the trucks steering wheel and roll the dice.
The ONLY way I see this being remotely feasible … 18-21 can only be teams and they have to be teamed up with drivers who have 2-3 years experience. Maybe even restrictions on hours and roads.
Either way I expect the insurance companies are going raise their rates for this age group so they don’t go bankrupt when the accidents start piling up and and the lawsuits start rolling in.
Majors can just pay a bond, they are not responsible for the actual insurance costs like a small carrier or independent would be, it’s a write off, just like the smashed trucks & trailers they write off. Payroll. Fuel. Those are their big expenses
I have been driving a big rig for a little more than 6 years. By driving standards, this isn’t very long! I climbed in my first rig at about 50. Daly I watch people driving their cars. Well that’s what they think they are doing. I don’t care about ELD I don’t care about forward facing cameras. Those things have nothing to do with safely moving freight safely down the road. It’s a proven fact that 18 year olds aren’t safe drivers as a whole. Ask any insurance company. Ask any parent, who has to pony up to help their child with insurance payments. The true lack of knowledge law makers have about operating a big rig, their refusal to except long known facts accumulated by the insurance companies is not only horrifying to me. But boarders on depraved indifference for the general motoring public. Because that’s what we’re really talking about here! It’s hard enough out here! As a driver, we all know we make mistakes. We all know those mistakes have to be so small as to be unnoticed by those around us! When the accidents start and they will! It will be us drivers the fingers will be pointed at. When really it will be the lawmakers in Washington I hold responsible for this very avoidable soon to be death toll. This comes from a driver with less than a million miles. Good luck drivers! Safe journeys! Oh before I forget. Their isn’t a driver shortage. There is a money shortage.
There’s a reason insurance companies charge an accident free 18 year old 4 times more than an accident free 35 year old. IT’S EXPERIENCE AND RISK!! Looking back at myself as a driver at 18 years old, I was driving straight trucks and pickups with trailers and my 41 year old self doesn’t like the idea of him rolling around in anything much heavier than that. Even at 21 when I got my Cdl, I wish I would’ve had more experience before they let me loose on the interstates.
I think that before this bill is passed, they should come up with a way to figure out the particular maturity level of an individual. Now how they do that, I have no idea. Maybe credit history/rating, prior driving record, scholastic grades. I don’t know. But my point is, I can visit with two 18 year olds and one can totally mature and responsible while the other is just the opposite. Some I think would be ok and some I would not let drive my old 94 ford. I am not totally against the 18 old idea but it needs better qualifiers. Everyone seems to be criticizing this idea but not mentioning the fact that 18 year olds have been legal to drive intrastate for longer that I can remember. And before I get judged by some of you keyboard commandos, yes I started actually before I got my first license hauling cows to the Denver stockyards, yes I was a trainer for many years, an owner op and a company driver lacking about 150k miles getting my 4 million mile award so, yes I think I know enough to speak on the subject.
I have a 18yr old and that is not a good idea at all. I’m a driver O/O and there is NO way that I’ll put my son behind the wheel. Between the phone/ and video game there Brian and mental state is NO we’re close to be behind the wheel of this equipment. Again government making the wrong move as they always do. If you want more drivers get rid of the stupid mandates that run good drivers to another market. The drivers that are having the accidents are usually the FEDEX, RL and big company’s that run around the clock. 18 IS NO GOOD AT ALL!!!!!
Here in Illinois, we have intrastate truck drivers that are 18, they just can’t go over state lines. We are already driving next to them on the highways. What I’ve seen with most truck drivers that are 18. Their father was a truck driver and their grandfather was truck driver. “It’s in their blood”!
Its going to be like this.
Dispatcher: When are going to pick up the load?
18Yr old driver: Stop bullying me, When I finish this level..
That’s a good one. Dispatcher won’t be able to reach the driver once they are in their “Safe” space.
LOL
You think turnover ratios are high now, start hiring 18 year olds.
Then try finding some that can actually pass a drug test..! ! !
OH, and there’s this “Common sense” attribute…….
So much for the Feds wanting to decrease nation wide fatalities between the motoring public and trucks. All the regs they’ve imposed on us trying to accomplish this yet they plan on putting 18 year olds behind the wheel of 80,000 pounds. I’ve never met an 18 year old mature enough with proper impulse control for this line of work. Then again, they send them overseas to get blown to bits in the military so there’s that. We’ve already been witnessing the stupidity out on the road by poorly trained older drivers or drivers without common sense and the mega carriers have no qualms about this so I don’t expect they will train 18 year olds at a higher standard. Push them through to have a body behind the wheel as they have obviously been doing.
Now find some that can actually pass the drug test and have GOOD common sense..! ! !
We all have to learn sometime. So let’s get together behind this and do to help us all out
You are evidently a crash dummy yourself or you would know this is a very bad idea.
Lobby, pay campaigns large sums of money, and you get what you want. Large carriers want drivers to make less money. So much for the con man in chief draining the swamp. Trump made it a cesspool. Too bad! Thoughts and prayers.
I don’t know where to start commenting on this subject? First and foremost, the big 5 trucking companies have destroyed their driver pool! Driving a 18 wheeler safe and profitable, demands so much from a driver with ever increasing traffic and regulations. Now if that’s not enough, look at the ELD’s ? I can’t say how many drivers I see racing a unforgiving clock that counts down to the very second of time! Racing through construction areas, through city streets, rural areas for a pickup or delivery or that useless 30 minute break!
Now I have seen rookie drivers 65 years old that cant handle the variables we have to deal with each and every hour we are on duty driving a 18 wheeler.
Now show me a 18 year old that can handle the responsibility safely on our highways? Remember your mother, your grandmother and your kids are on our highways!
Now a 18 year old is not responsible enough to buy or use alcohol! How can you let them loose in a 80,000 pound moving piece of steel in traffic?
Here’s a common sense solution, 18 year olds can do it now within the state they reside according to current fmcsr. Why do you think it’s set up that way now, oh yeah to gain experience. Most big companies today students out of school with 1yr. experience can become a certified trainer for them. Food for thought now knowing this , would you and your family be safe beside a cmv with 2 inexperienced drivers?
18 Year olds be like:
“OMG! You guys! You won’t believe it!
Most of the comments on a trucking article are really negative!
And read like they were written by 3rd graders who got held back 57 times.
Now we have to ask ourselves before we get into this: ‘Does trucking turn you into a dumb A-hole, or does it just attract them?'”
So that would be a 65 year old? With how many years experience?
DRIVE? this will allow big companies to hire sub-standard drivers at a way lower pay scale (pre 1980) so THEY have a higher PROFIT % NO MATTER the cost in human LIFE! yeah,………that’s a good idea!
I dont have a problem with 18 year old drivers but let’s cut the hypocrisy. Regulations have nothing to do with safety. The government wants this because we have a lot of drivers getting out.
INSANE..!!!!!
Can you see anything when you’re looking down your nose that far DUH!!!
With the country having almost full employment it’s even harder for trucking companies to find qualified drivers. I drove for 17 years, throughout that time the industry had driver shortages.
I honestly don’t believe lowering the age requirement is the right thing to do. As stated in this article, statistics show that drivers under the age of 21 have a higher accident rate.
Since I’ve retired recently, I really don’t like the idea of having 18 years olds behind the wheel of a Semi. I suppose when everyone else is in a job even the $15,000 dollar bonus offered by some carriers is still not a big enough carrot to find the people who are willing to the family separation and the dangers which go along with the job..
I hope our politicians keep their constituents in mind when considering this legislation.
Because you will most often never see the bonus. There’s always a stipulation behind you not getting it. Once the oilfields die down ( which they always do ) there will be plenty of drivers, however they’re not going to work for peanuts, which is what most companies pay
18 is way to young , bad bad bad idea, serious consequences,
The reason there is a driver shortage is because the pay isn’t there. The reason the pay isn’t there is because brokers are taking too big a piece of the pie. They prey on the uninformed newbies and on the desperate. They’ll offer a load at $1.50 per mile with no FS and pocket the other dollar out of the $2.50 that the shipper paid them. REGULATE THE BROKERS AND THE INDUSTRY WILL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER. I don’t understand how a shipper CAN ALLOW this to happen. If I’m a shipper and I pay $3 a mile for my product to be moved, and I find out that the broker only gave the small independent carrier anything less than $2.45 (15% vig), I will never do business with that broker again. Shippers and producers should put this in their contracts with the brokers. This will clean out the system. There would be more carriers timely load deliveries.
This is stupid they will be turned upside down in the medium strip or will be stuck under bridges because they dont know height limits on a van trailor or backing into experienced drivers trucks and racing thru truck stop parking lots because they are invinciable or think they know it all and pulling flatbed and not knowing how to properly secure a load and how much freight will be scattered on our nation’s highways these 18yr olds needs to be trained for at least 1yr and 6months in a yard before they even get cut lose these people best stop and revamp this idea before they go and kill someone or someone in my family because I will sue the hell out of them and the trucking company that allows these punks to get behind the wheel
Stupid idea let’s not let it happen
Colorado doesn’t surprise me. Anybody, and I mean any joe-schmo off the street can perform an abortion. Not-to-mention, a baby full-term straight out of the womb. Go figure!!
I started driving for money when I was 18, 1st time driving a big truck I was
15, I was turned loose by myself didn’t have a teacher learned how to float
them gears by trial and error, I was told don’t use that clutch except when
starting out or going backwards leaned to shift without a tach by ear
that was almost 40 years ago , my how things have changed in that short
of time all of us started somewhere.
Just what I said Kevin . People forget . Your a memory worth listening to . I used to sit in my Dad’s lap while he drove his logging truck I was 5 . My family lived in a logging camp until I was six years old then we bought a farm. Lots of work there still my Dad went to work in a saw mill . Mill right . Progressed up through years . I had my share of equipment . Walnut groves vineyards and fruit trees Not to mention all those animals . In us older drivers time 18 was a thought our minds already matured it. We were older before time
Like our parents and their parents.
Love what you said Sara, in order to get to where you are you
have to start somewhere rite.
I still don’t agree with lowering the age to 18 ….that would be driver just barely got out of high school and probably flunked drivers ed …there is so many more things to learn about big rigs ….since I started driving big rig I have learned things that i never thought of before and after my training i learned more things talking with fellow drivers …lowering the age is a bad idea
I grew up on the prairies. My dad owned a White farm equipment dealership so sold White trucks also. (Later Freightliner)
Driving truck is all I ever wanted to do. He started me out driving the back country roads on Sundays. I was 12.
I got my license when I was 18. (In Saskatchewan)
My dad said, “you got a choice. You can get drunk with your frenemies, or you can take this old KW, fix it up and go trucking.”
I went trucking.
I am 55 now. Lots of stories to tell.
I realize I had a start that very few will ever get, But there ARE guys out there that can really drive and they aren’t 18 yet. Almost every one will be a farm kid, or someone whose dad is a driver.
I guess, yeah. You guys are right.
The other 98% won’t be able to do the fuckin job.
My nephew is 20, lives in the city, no drivers license yet and doesn’t plan on getting one. My brother offered to pay for guitar lessons, and would have let the kid use his Les Paul. The kid laughed at him, said he’d rather play guitar hero.
Forget I said anything.
All I can say is OMG!! Trainees training trainees!! Most of the people who train really aren’t hard core truck drivers anyway!! Why the hell would you let some of these so called psychopath, control freaks train anyway!
Look out perverts you all gonna have fresh YOUNG meat out there!
More money spent training Mexico our jobs. More money spent for their programs . Funds to survive on while they go to school for 6 months to a year and WE U S Citizens pay for all of it. And their housing and food and utilities and medical . Even English classes. In Mexico they get their license for trucks in 3 days .
I can’t say that an 18 year old can’t learn to operate a truck. If trained properly
Many a farm boy or girl have done great jobs on the back roads . Some serving to be naturals at it. I have to admit younger catch on fast. But as far as peddle to the metal it’s a big issue. And it’s no fun for them to deprive themselves from a normal life at that age. It’s a tough insurance risk. When anyone joins a military force they are handling much more than trucking And we are all aware of that. Thankful to Our troops Our real Heros. No one doubts your ability to drive or operate military equipment. For those who have no military obedience and training I suggest Camp Wanna Be A Driver for 3 years. Good luck on that
Bunch of hypocrites! All these rules and regulations are for ‘safety’ but letting 18 year olds is not safe at all!
My .2c
If companies actually hired truck drivers instead of a CDL they would have ZERO need for all of the sensors, buzzers, alarms, cameras and the rest of the horseshit.
If you cannot trust your drivers then you probably shouldn’t have hired them.
I still run paper logs with a 2014 Pete, I’m still a green horn with 23yrs of ACCIDENT FREE and citation free trucking.
I don’t have cameras, buzzers, sensors or recording devices in my truck.
Why don’t I?
My safety record speaks for itself and I am a professional at what I do, Trucking isn’t some fly by night quick way to tour the country job to me, it is my career!
Excuse me, Same required hours of mentor “training” as all the trucking schools for drivers over 21. That’s been the number since 2012 at least. So where is the extra training they need for these younger, judgement impaired drivers in that same number of required hours?
Answer is a great big “0”.
City driving, that’s one thing, but for OTR?!!? If they wanted to triple the hours requirement I’d be almost ok with it, but this is just another bald faced lie designed to create more turnover and higher returns for the Swift’s etc. and also designed to drive down driver pay across the board. They want a replay of the big payroll break they got after FMCSA 2010, when the government/industry sham of a safety law went on the books in the first place. and when they started to use up drivers and then throw em out the minute they start making a decent wage. In 2012, 50 new drivers a week at Swift training, at years end? Maybe 2 of those drivers are still driving, if that. or they’ve left Swift. I got pulled over by an Illinois trooper driving for a small carrier after I left Swift because somebody tagged my trailer, once he found I was legal & had my act together, he asked who I drove for during training, when I said Swift he immediately said, “oh, I’m so sorry”. Then, a few years later…
Funny how May Trucking loved me and my almost perfect on time rookie delivery record for about 6 months (for them, I was @ 200,000 miles. by then, NOT a rookie) for the daily rate of $108 (Under load? Paid weather the truck moves or not). I’m a 500 a day guy, day in and day out, for them it was 7 days a week, they are a great carrier as far as keeping you moving and getting miles, no question. But when I graduated to $125 a day, suddenly I’m under a microscope, their policy states that if you need a tow, for anything but the trucks mechanical failure, that’s an accident, stuck in the snow?, again, get it out by yourself or charged with an “accident”…. (ever put chains on a partially jackknifed truck that can’t move without getting more jackknifed?, IE sliding down the hill sideways? put it in granny, & you turn the drives just enough to add a few bungies until it’s all around the tire, then split the axle to turn the other drives, got chains on all the tires that way….took me 4 hours in the dark in 20 degree weather however)
yeah that whole “preventable” bullshit that’s in the law. Well if you had been there 5 minutes earlier, no accident, because your truck would not have been there to be hit. Therefore Preventable, on u driver. What a sham.
But the law was supposed to be a safety law, the roads are not safer, I tell everyone I know, “stay away from dirt or port/container trucks (paid by the load, ridiculous from a safety standpoint) or any trucks from a major like Swift, chances are the driver has less than 6 months experience, now he could be under 21 as well.
I was 18 year old once. Granted, a very long time ago, but I still remember what I was like. I was invincible. I was the smartest on the road. I was a super car driver. I was the best. Everyone else was a moron, or too slow. I had reflexes like a race car driver. Except that I wasn’t any of the above, but thankfully I survived long enough to have the opportunity to realize that, and learn humility. Then at 25 I became a big rig driver. I think even 21 is too low. There are some Police agencies who won’t hire anyone under 25. It should be the same for interstate truck driving. The proposed mandatory amount of hours spent in truck with a trainer are ridiculous. 240 hours – in cab, with a driver trainer amounts to 10 full days on the road. That’s a couple of trips. Even if they only count driving/on duty hours, that will only amount to roughly 3 weeks. That’s roughly what most big fleets do already, if not less. For a young 18 year old, that’s way too short. That is just enough time to learn to drive forward abd perhaps back up uf he is super talented. It is not enough to shape a professional, responsible attitude. I constantly hear abd read this stupid argument about 18 year olds driving tanks. Incidentally I was obe of those 18 tear olds driving a tank. In a controlled environment, on the range, overseen by superiors who woukd rip my head off the second I did something stupid. Driving a tank in a military environment, under constant supervision and under peer scrutiny is an entirely different thing than driving a big rig alone on a public road, in traffic, in all weather and conditions and with occasional provocation from a raging four wheeler. It’s a stupid argument. These rules are the result of lobbying by the greedy trucking corporations. There is no truck driver shortage. If there was our wages wiuld reflect that. This is in fact an attempt to keep those wages down as they are.
Unless someone else already mentioned this, this is the way corporations will control and keep truckers salary low. The more young dirivers we go they can hire at say 40K a year, who think that is great money because they have never made over 20K working meaningless jobs before, the more company’s will be reluctant to pay the rest of us seasoned veterans what we’re really worth, 85K+!
O/O, I/D and other garden variety drivers…DONT fight this crap! Let them do it. It will help the industry when the mega carriers are continuesly sued out of biz.
But knowing these weasly snakes, they will somehow find a way to make smaller carriers pay their legal bills.
I just pity the innocent people that will suffer the consequences if this.
This idiocy will just give DOT, FMCSA and whoever else more reason to add more idiotic restrictions on the trucking industry. Want more safe drivers? Go back to little to no restrictions like in the ’60’s.
Ok I am an old driver. I’ve been driving for over 30 years safely . Thank God. When I got out of the USMC at 24 years old I could not get hired by a trucking company until I went to a school but I had a license to drive everything the USMC had. I had a special chauffers license. That was before the CDL. I went into the USMC at 17 and yes they gave me a rifle but they wouldn’t give me any bullets until we were on the rifle range and under strict control. Also while in the USMC I was a trainer for driving and taught people to drive on the left side of the road while in other countries. I still consider myself to be a rookie because I’m seeing and learning new ways for people to be stupid around trucks. This industry has no driver shortage what it has is a shortage of common sense at the top level management that thinks that it is ok to take everything away from the drivers. Look we are already raped every time we go to buy a replacement bulb at a truckstop. Example I had to replace a stop tail turn light on my tractor 2 days ago. $ 52.98. I found the same part online for $12.00 no shipping. Drivers are overcharged for everything that they have to have out here on the road. Then drivers are being charged for tolls and drivers have to pay lumpers. Who ordered the freight to start with I just hauled it. Now you want to put 18 year olds on the road. Are they stupid. Swift takes a driver who got out of a 30 day spindry now you’re a truck driver school and puts them on the road with a driver who has trained with a driver that has a week of training with a driver that got out of school the week before. My question is how can you teach what you don’t know. Just an old driver who want to see safety put where it should be 1ST.
No good will come of this…it’ll be another way for shitty companies to pay crappy wages…burn em out early plus I see older drivers with “tudes” everyday what’ll happen when you got a 17 yr old having a pissy day with his baby mama behind the wheel of an 80,000 lb sledgehammer?
All about the $$$$. Legalize marijuana and let 18 year olds drive 18, wheelers at the same time, all about the dollars$$$$
The company’s that are pushing this are companies that put three month drivers training new drivers and anyone who they can in a truck
They lie about their safety programs you see out here everywhere the carelessness and just how much drivers know about the industry and now putting a young person that only cares about texting and driving and no common sense about what they are doing and how they can kill someone else if they don’t do the right thing you in Congress pass this bill have all lost your minds and are idiot’s the only shortage in the industry is stop the people that are invading the United states from coming in here and ruining America and under bidding and taking away or jobs and giving them to a person who is 18 yrs old is the most dumbass idea ever made you over
Size companies are also more problematic than any industry in the industry!!!!! You all talk big but hire anyone even the ones who have no common sense are understanding of what they are doing and driving and you big industry’s say a lot and it never happens its a lie and you big industry’s know that it’s a real big problem and mistakes if you all push the bill thru these 18 yr olds
With no matter how much training given will become a safety issue and hazard driving a 18 wheeler!!!!
Do not pass the bill it is a mistake!!!
I would restrict the driving radius of those 18-20 to 100 miles from their reporting location. Classify them as apprentices CDL license holders and restrict the maximum hauling weight of 28000 lbs. If after two years of OJT with no accidents or traffic violations, upgrade CDL to full class A privileges.
I have had my CDL for 30 years, I can say with 100% confidence that lowering the age to 18 would be extremely bad situation! When I was 18-25, I was extremely immature! I have way more respect today for the long hauls than I had when I was younger! All drivers should have to drive 3 years local, before being aloud to drive long distance! Everyone needs to realize, you want to put a 80,000 LB Deaftrap in the hands of an immature person, letting them and trusting them with your family on the roads? Na! Any driver who hasn’t driven an 80,000 deathtrap for at least 3 years, shouldn’t be aloud to operate them cross country! 10 hours and long trips is a grueling job and needs to be done by mature and capable persons.
The trucking industry needs to take a step back and look at business! DO NOT sacrifice SAFETY over demand! To much can go wrong!