A letter signed by the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and others in the trucking industry has been sent to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voicing “strong opposition” to two bills being considered by the committee which could lower the interstate CMV driving age to 18.
The two bills in question are H.R. 5358, the Developing Responsible Individuals for a Vibrant Economy (DRIVE-Safe) Act and H.R. 3889, the Waiving Hindrances to Economic Enterprise and Labor (WHEEL) Act. According to the signatories on the letter, implementing either of those bills “would not only be detrimental to road safety, but also to those seeking to enter the trucking industry as professional drivers.”
You can read our previous coverage of the proposed DRIVE-Safe Act here.
The act has the support of the American Trucking Association, but OOIDA criticizes the bills as pretending to be about solving the ‘driver shortage’ when in fact they are a way for large carriers to use “less expensive and less experienced labor.”
“We think it’s irresponsible to put young drivers behind the wheel of a truck in order to avoid addressing the real problems of high turnover,” said Todd Spencer, acting president of OOIDA, in a press release. “The focus should instead be on fixing the staggering turnover rate with better pay and working conditions.”
In their arguments against allowing teenage interstate CMV driving, the signatories cite studies which show that those under the age of 21 “lack the general maturity, skill and judgment that is necessary in handling CMVs.” They also claim that those under 21 will be easier for carriers to manipulate into signing predatory lease-to-own schemes and to put up with “increasingly poor working conditions.”
The letter was signed by 14 organizations including OOIDA, Road Safe America, the Truck Safety Coalition, the American Public Health Association, and the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
You can read the whole letter here.
“This has been tried before and no one with any common sense thought it was a good idea,” said Spencer. “Nothing has changed since that time and no disruptions have ever taken place due to any perceived shortage of drivers. These latest efforts are just more ways to keep driver churn going and keep wages as low as possible.”
Source: gobytrucknews, fleetowner, truckinginfo, ooida, ooida
I have 7 sons, 4 of them are 18 or older. We took care to do the best job we could to raise them to be responsible adults and by the grace of God, so far so good. I wouldn’t have wanted any of them behind the wheel of a semi full time at the age of 18. That’s just too young. Too risky for them and others. 21 is actually pushing it in my mind. 25 would be a better age to allow people to get their CDL, by that age most people have a better understanding of risks and are much more mature. Of course, I know that won’t happen, but I’m just saying what age I think would be safest to start OTR driving.
25 YEARS OLD…ITS A GOOD IDEA
so …. they can’t legally buy
Alcohol in the states at the age 21 .. Nice .. job 👍🏽👍🏽
What does alcohol have to do with it ?
Texting and driving … it will be play station 2 & Xbox while driving . Maybe the mindless wonders who thought this up should take their families on road trip and ride beside the 80,000 death machines on wheels . (18 )wheeled cmv need only mature adults at the control. Not (18) year old teens . America is sick.
Ever who dreamed up this idiocy has a few screws loose, and needs to get in a car and drive along with the 21 yr old fresh graduates we already have to deal with..or sit in a truck stop after 5pm and just watch em remove mirrows and ait cleaners and fenders the easy way while trying repeatedly to park their truck.
Thats the truth!!! Its downright pitiful to see the skill level and thought process of these new drivers. Is blind side backing the new “hip” thing to do? Instead of going down the row to turn around or hit an easier spot 30 feet away, they will work for 30 minutes to blind side in a spot! Work smarter, not harder!!!
I watched a CRST team spend 15 minutes trying to back into a spot BETWEEN two trucks while the lot was virtually empty just 20 feet further down. Guess the wanted to practice.
So they’re trying to make the roads safer?
B.S. Most 18 year olds shouldn’t drive cars, much less 80,000# semis. This is more proof that t he government and ATA don’t give a damn about safety. It’s about the big fleets expanding their control and expanding their driver pool.
Elds are an unconstitutional, communistic travesty, and high school grads driving long haul is madness
“We think it’s irresponsible to put young drivers behind the wheel of a truck in order to avoid addressing the real problems of high turnover,” said Todd Spencer, acting president of OOIDA, in a press release. “The focus should instead be on fixing the staggering turnover rate with better pay and working conditions.”
This hit the nail on the head!
Hmmmm….seems to me that the insurance cost alone would be enough to make this idiotic idea a non starter
OOIDA jumps up and down again with probably little or no result.
There has been no real representation for truckers since they busted up the Teamsters.
Isn’t it bad enough with all of the unskilled drivers fresh out of cdl school! You can’t get a job without 2 yrs experience, but self insured companies like Prime can put them out there. These idiots just stay in the middle lane doing 65 mph like its no problem. Just making the general public hate trucks even more. It seems like less people know the rules of the road and an 18 year old just doesn’t have enough time driving, that’s like graduating med school and skipping the internship, do you want him doing your surgery????
KK – and you just woke up skilled one day!?!
In fairness, some of that middle lane running is happening because people getting on the highway don’t know how to merge, and after a while, even the most experienced among us get tired of fighting for a place in the next lane over, trying to make room for the test dummies coming in from the right, who think that you get the right of way by not looking… :-/
I started driving when I was 18, as did many others. It is legal to drive intrastate at that age, so why does a line on a map suddenly make you less safe? Age has less to do with ability than you would think. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend having kids drive a truck…anywhere. The second you get a commercial license you are automatically branded as a rat-bag criminal, so why bother
Well said.
Right, and at age 18 you NEVER made boneheaded mistakes that were caused by ignorance did you? Sounds like you still haven’t grown up.
This is just flat out stupid! As I started driving in state at the age of 19, I definitely do not believe that the age should be lowered. Luckily, I never had any incidents while young, there were a few times I can look back and say, “what was I thinking”! It probably wasn’t til my late 20’s, that safety of myself and those around me became the top priority to me, and think I was probably more mature than most! This bill puts more people that don’t have the ability to have the correct mindset on the road and once they aren’t as lucky as myself, and have incidents, will actually take away potential drivers that could do the job and do it well later in life. Put knowledge and skill before luck!!!
got some news for ya!!there was a get together of over approximately 200 drivers and they talked about tailgating..being squeezed in const zones an so on and they said enough is enough..they said they were going to take these drivers to old school training..cut me off..I will come back around and give you a showing of what cut off means..old school style.. I am glad to hear it… rt
As to your comment on beginning age Douglas, it was a different time and mindset back 30 years ago when I started… also at 18. Drivers had a mutual respect for one another and they would help each other when possible. That is all but extinct in trucking today and its every Driver for themselves. Attitude and respect for the job and other Drivers is key, and it’s just not out there On The Road anymore, especially with the mindset of today’s new Drivers, much less today’s youth !!!
Daniel, well said..that is why I got off the road a year ago after 26 years…The stupidity is just to much anymore…No common sense,no common courtesy..
If people don’t quit texting and driving and all they will enforce that motion sensor like you can put on your kids phone..if you are moving the phone won’t work..c’mon people..
Wish they would, but the cell phone lobbyists won’t let that happen.
This is brilliant. We already have a flood of low knowledge uncaring under trained newbies flooding our industry. Let’s get’em while they’re even younger.
Just let 16 year olds drive truck while we are at it, better yet pull them out of school at 10th grade and send em down the road get started early.
You’re being sarcastic, but the ATA may hear and say “Great Idea! Let’s do it!”
🤨
Well l think we as truck drivers have see heard and try everything whats reasonable for ourselves our families and country. At this point public and entire nations need to stend up and do whats right for safety of all. Are you going to alowed your child to be a use for carelas carriers and lost their life or lifes of others ??? I believe not, few out there might not say nothing because thay dont care .
But are we not seing prices going up and it all started since new mandate goes into effect puting all drivers into same shoes, truckers start quiting jobs and we will face more worst time in short time ahead of us. Ooida and other organization’s are not able to fix the problems with most important artery that keeps our nation’s alive. We do need and l say “WE” all step out and protest against this careless politician’s who pretend that they work or do somthing for us, instead its all about them and crooked government. Toughts of trucker stop driving and blocks the road wont happen simply because there is not enought ovner operator’s companies to do that, and large carrier’s wont joint because it isnt helping them continues do what its been working for them so far.
The Point is people woke up onse, before it gets worse.
How many drivers can attest that they have seen these newbies out here driving with there feet on the dash ? I have seen it almost everyday. It is dangerous anymore and they want to bring teenagers into this at 18.
So, wait.. they are subjecting us drivers to ridiculously strict electronic logs and want to add side bumpers to trailers in order to “protect” the public from our “menace”BUT they want to put kids at the wheel of an eighteen wheeler? Can someone explain to me who the hell is making this irrational decisions?
Big picture for ATA…have 18 year olds on the road. They get killed. Public will be all over the government about safety since now kids have died. Push madate for self drive. Its all a game for the ATA to get it their way.
18 is not a kid.
My son was 18, when he joined the Marine Corps .
He’s more of a man ,than some of these 30 to 60 year olds driving trucks and more responsible.
I’d be more concerned about this government trying to take our 2nd amendment, than a 18 year old man driving a truck .
At 18 years of age, I was out chasing tail, going to college getting that almighty important degree. Last thing I was thinking about was driving a 40 ton bomb across the country. If this bill does pass, which I pray it does not, the collateral damage on US highways will reach an all time high. I wonder how many of these companies will be buying life insurance policies for these inexperienced drivers? I have read the guidelines they have to follow and the company must adhere to those guidelines. But, as we all know, and you heard it 1st here, documents and times/hours of training will be forged right out of the gate. As experienced drivers, let’s pray this bill doesn’t pass because if it does, I will go back to working local. At least this way, I will have a fighting chance to stay alive and not get buried in all of the collateral damage that lies ahead of all of us…😎
VOTE DECEMBER 6TH.
Why do all these companys scream driver shortage when they have 90+ percent turnover? Isnt that a retention problem.if your employes only want to stay long enough to get enough experience to be able to get a better job,maybe you should change your business model.
Yep. Because the whole trucking industry suffers from a massive lack of competent management. It’s not a driver shortage, it’s a smart business shortage. If these companies weren’t run and managed by morons, they wouldn’t have such a hard time holding onto drivers. They put so much effort into stupid gimicks trying to save a little fuel, running their trucks slower than the hour hand on a clock with a dead battery in it (why not just park it at the yard, think how much fuel you’d save, you’ll be rich! ), while treating their drivers (the ones who actually do the work that everyone gets paid for) like garbage, constantly hiring, training and fixing/paying for rookie mistakes and complaining that there aren’t enough drivers as they run off every driver who was ever naive enough to get involved with them, and lobbying for more laws to make the remaining drivers live’s a living hell. Now they’ll have to increase driver pay, because that’s the only way they’ll be able to fill their dreaded positions. These companies are their own worst enemy. I don’t feel sorry for them one bit.
I don’t see a problem with a person at 18 getting a CDL! We can take a 17 year old and put a gun or tank in his or hers control but a truck? I now that when I was 18 I was more then ready and had great common sense to drive!!! You can drive at 18 in state but not over the state line? What B S!!! I know many others at age 15 that drove big trucks for their parents but we won’t let drive at 18 over state line to earn a living??? Total Slap in the face to our young adults!!!! I was an assistant manager of store at 17! But you say I am not good enough to drive a truck! B S
For the most part I agree with you, but the teenagers of today are not the same as those of years past. Until you can drive an old 8nwheeler with an Xbox controller from Mom’s basement, driving is not a suitable job for the vast majority ofmodern teens. Sory, but this is just the way it is. Does it suck? Yes. But it’s reality. And these people are only looking for teen drivers because they’re run out of enough adults to abuse. The solution isn’t finding a fresh supply of gullible drivers, it’s in not treating your good drivers like trash.
Why is it that the FMCSA and the majority of law makers are so clueless as to make Forest Gump look like an Intergalactic Super Genius by comparison?
If there’s a driver shortage, address the real issues that are causing talented individuals to flee the industry, rather than lowering standards to get otherwise non qualified and inexperienced drivers behind the wheel of multi-ton high velocity death machines.
FMCSA, you yourselves are the cause of the vast majority of safety violations that you work so hard to prevent. You have created the very conditions and environment that places enormous pressure on companies and drivers to make dangerous decisions. When you sow stupidity, you’ll reap disaster.
All those damn millennials living with their parents till their 25 when they can finally join the work force. One thing I’ve learned is that age is just a number don’t believe it you haven’t spent enough time outside your rig
That’s what happens when you give people who have never been in a semi the ability to govern an industry. It is not about skill level when they put someone that young behind the wheel it’s a maturity level that will have consequences.
Of course the grocery industry wants younger drivers I won’t even haul to a grocer, to many hours tied up in loading and unloading