A new bill introduced in the Senate would allow drivers between 18 and 21 to drive commercial vehicles in interstate commerce after they complete an apprenticeship program.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. A similar bill was introduced in the House back in March. It wasn’t passed and so the Senate is giving it a try. The Senate version even has the same name: The DRIVE-Safe Act. And while the acronym implies that the bill is about safety, a Senator who introduced the bill admits that the real goal is to lower the driving age in order to fight the driver shortage.
“Not only would the DRIVE-Safe Act create new career opportunities for young Kansans, but it would also help move the supply-chain nationwide in a more expeditious manner – benefitting many sectors of the Kansas economy,” said Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) according to Fleetowner. “This legislation includes important provisions that would help curb the trucker shortage, train safe drivers, and deliver goods and supplies to the Kansans that need them.”
The proposed Senate bill is largely the same as the House bill. It requires drivers to first obtain their CDL. Then they need to log at least 400 hours of on-duty time. At least 240 of those hours need to be spent actually driving while an experienced driver is in the cab with them.
While training, the “apprentices” will need to drive in a truck that has been equipped with safety systems including active braking systems, video cameras, and a speed limiter set to 65mph or less.
The bill was introduced on Thursday, August 16th, so there hasn’t been much public reaction yet. The House version garnered praise from the ATA, but criticism from OOIDA and multiple safety groups.
Source: ttnews, truckersreport, fleetowner, truckinginfo, congress
Driver shortage? Peruse the threads on TTR and see people being sent home, people having a few days to pass skills tests, people wondering why they haven’t heard from multiple companies they applied to. Or that thousands of CDL’s are issued each month. Could Representative Moran actually be Moron?
Shogun, you are absolutely correct. According to available data, almost 400,000 new CDLs are issued annually. Another 200,000 are renewed.
How can there be a driver shortage? Granted, all will not become big rig OTR drivers, but we can’t cover a shortfall of 60-80 thousand drivers with those kind of numbers?
The “driver shortage” is a tactic to:
A) Keep driver wages low. (An experienced driver demands more pay. Keep wages low, and experienced drivers quit. )
B) Increase trucking company profits by raising shipping rates.
Bottom line:
There is no “driver shortage”!
I am doubtful this will resolve the shortage much less improve safety either. After being in the trucking business, I for one would never encourage my child to be a trucker. I certainly want better for my son!
Amen.
Truckers are treated as 3rd class citizens.
Bureaucrats pass HOS laws with unforgiving ELD requirements. Businesses demand we leave their property as soon as loaded or unloaded.
Then, adding insult to injury, communities pass ordinances that forbid parking.
Most of these young drivers will up and leave their jobs forthwith.
AMEN!!!
I think we should allow 18 – 21 year old to become Senetors.. With the shortage we have for common sense legislators we could introduce a program where these young amaericans take a 2 day course on how to be a senetor and bam we have fixed the shortage.. Anyway, stupid ideal!!
Lol! Ivan, I 2nd that motion! I add that there should be a term limit for lawmakers at any level of government. That alone would help “curb the trucker shortage”!
Best laugh I’ve had all day. Thanks!
Good idea
Hahahaa that was well said!!! Your answer just made my day. Thank you for that Ivan!
Ha, ha ha ha ha 😂😂😂🤣🤣😁 That’s precious. Like this country would do that. Look how it’s vilifying our President because voters actually thought outside the box for the election.
oh yeah, the younger you are to start life in a space smaller than solitary in a maximum security prison, the better. because you wont know any better. you wont know of all the other things you can do for work, even excel at, than this driving job that some lady who grew up in timbuktu can come over and learn how to do (actually the little lady I saw fueling at the fillin station, mass looked somalian, and the volvo was intact, no scratches- she drove it in and drove it out).
I am an owner operator and, while I agree there is a shortage of qualified, professional drivers in the industry, I do not believe this is the best option to help the issue. I do believe this helps employ young people who are having more difficulty finding jobs due to the growing trend of older Americans working jobs that traditionally younger people have worked (I.e. retail). I believe that is more of a motivation for lawmakers than to “curb the trucker shortage”. I was more in favor of an earlier version I read about that was aimed at employing veterans who were under 21 but, had adequate military experience with commercial sized vehicles. Also, although I have always carried a class A CDL, as a former public school, school bus driver I am completely against any person under 21 driving the school bus (I am aware that at one time 16 year olds could drive the bus).
That would definantly increase accidents
Yay even less parking… as long as this bill comes with a mandate which compels stats to create truck parking. At least equal to or doulble the amount of this “truck shortage” that everyone keeps talking about. The areas dont need to be fancy. Even gravel lots with a commercual garbage bin and the very least a mantanied portapotty would help.
Considering the majority of goods go into major population centers. IE Dallas, Atlanta, California, etc.
Because we are having truck parking problems.
I dont have a problem with 18 year olds driving but it’s funny when “saftey” rules go out the window when someone’s pocket is hurting. Look at fracking and oilfield work. You can drive 14 hours per day.
And only need 24 hours off duty to reset you clock.
The ATA wants younger drivers with no experience so the mega carriers that run the ATA can hire them under their self-insured blanket and pay them less and make more profit while at the same time cutting out the smaller companies that the ins companies demand 2 years exp.
You are correct!
This is definitely not a good idea The majority of the 25 year olds I meet today have a mentality of a 14 year old I can’t speak for everyone but I don’t want to be out here with them I’m not just talking about other people’s kids either. I have a 24 year old girl and 26 year old boy and I put emphasis on the word Boy. I would give a lot of consideration to my girl driving but I wouldn’t even ride in a car with my boy much less a truck
Sounds to me like the fault lies with the parent and not the child.
Boo ! Mic drop.
Boom ! Mic drop.
Get ’em while they’re young and stupid. They just see all the cool trucks driving down the road and don’t know what’s involved when you DON’T see the trucks. Since today’s kids don’t seem to be seriously interested in working, trucking will quickly drop off their ‘radar’.
Instead of having younger drivers who have yet to prove themselves and taking a 68 foot long rig and turning it into a 68 foot long missile looking for a point of impact if politicians really want to knock down the driver shortage then start knocking down the DOT physical standard that’s where the problem is the higher the standard the more drivers that are getting kicked off the grid and the greater the need for drivers this is a key point for computer corporations to push the fully automated trucks.
The only shortage is with ATA associated carriers. Even 18-21 year old drivers will learn by us the greed and deception of these ATA carriers.
Half of Canada has the age for intra-provincial trucking set at 18, and it’s 19 for the rest of the country.
So once you are 19, you can drive from coast to coast across the Rockies, or the corridor from Toronto to Montréal, or navigate the Maritimes in a snowy Nor’Easter.
There is just no evidence that allowing 19 year olds to drive increases accidents. Lack of skill causes accidents, and trucking isn’t an age related skill. Taking risks increases accidents, and it could be argued that the driver with a mortgage, 3 kids headed to university and marital debt has more incentive to take risks to earn money than a kid just out of a CDL program.
Got that right 😀
Have you personally conducted crash studies by age groups in commercial motor vehicles? I do know that scientific research has shown that the human brain isn’t fully developed before the age of 25 leading to greater emotional outbursts. Please provide the study evidence before spouting out without empirical evidence. Thank you.
Well said Mr. Green. I have served in a combat zone with 18-21 year olds driving fuel tankers that were more consciences of there responsibility than some of the 25 to 60 year olds that I see holding the steering wheel, daily.
The weak drivers would weed themselves out pretty quickly. You know as well as I that this job requires a lot of sacrifice. Young drivers with the right attitude would be an asset to the industry. I for one feel that they should have the opportunity.
The problem I foresee is quality training being provided and over site to insure that training is to standard or better.
Fix the parking availability dilemma and the driver shortage will take care of itself.
The only reason companies are pushing this is because it will help to keep wages stagnant and/or lower them.
Solution: Don’t train! If new drivers arent trained then they don’t meet the criteria.
The only way to higher pay is to force the companies hand!
Millennial’s(which includes 18 yr old’s) don’t want to work much less drive a Truck for a living and who could blame them. The Gov. and insurance Co. have destroyed the Trucking industry with over regulation and camera’s that watch and listen to everything you say and do. computers for logs. Trucking co. are forced to install camera’s facing both way’s when their accidents reach a certain threshold or pay through the nose in insurance premiums. Trucking company’s push you to run illegal and DOT and State police are there to fine you when you do. The public has a love/hate relationship with truckers where as they love to consume the products we deliver to their favorite stores but while on the road, hate us, cut us off and commit road rage against us and are quick to call our company’s faulting us. So in all honesty, who wants to be a truck driver?
I honestly dont think there is a “shortage” of drivers. Instead, I think these mega carriers, and their lobby are looking for a 1 – 2 combination that a lot of us havent considered. #1 By lowering the minimum age they can greatly increase the number of eligible drivers for the otr market… Thereby lowering the minimum pay… Its all supply and demand. Once there is no longer a demand, the value is decreased. And #2 By hiring at such a young age, most of their employers wont consist of much more than burger joints and the like… So these youngsters wont have much experience in the real job market. Fresh out of school, a lot of them will simply believe they are supposed to do what theyre told, simply because they are told to… Thats really bad for me personally. Ive always had a bad habbit of telling a dispatcher, or a planner to f-off quick. Most of them have never seen the inside of a truck (except maybe a picture), let alone ridden in one… And Ill be darned if Im gonna let either one jeopardize my professional license… Thats how I eat. I know there are a lot of drivers today that believe that a dispatcher is their boss… lol, I laugh because I know the truth… dispatchers and planners are made up jobs… they were created to make the job easier, but in all truth… A driver is able to do those jobs…. When I learned to drive route planning was part of the course. If you can plan your route, and you can get on a load board, you can dispatch yourself. I bet there will be some owner opps that will back me on that. But these kids wont know HOW to argue… or WHEN to question a dispatcher. And that is dangerous… not only for that drivers professional career, but for everyone that shares the road with them. I strongly suggest everyone calls their federal representatives, and instruct them to vote against this bill.
I laugh at this nonsense. How many 18 year olds want to spend 3 weeks at a time stuck in a truck not chasing girls? Or going out with their friends?
Kids are connected. You ask a kid about anything they don’t know about and within 5 seconds they are looking it up on their cellphone. There is literally days of video “don’t be a truck driver because…” content floating all over the internet. One quick search and all the info they need to make a decision is right on their phone screen.
People that think kids are naive are in the dark. They might not have the strongest work ethic but heck if a young person does have a good work ethic they will choose to work hard in a field they can actually grow in, instead of a field they work 80 hours a week (two full time jobs) and never see home or meet a girl or have time to do anything for themselves.
I’m sure this poorly thought out law will pass but it won’t do anything for the high turnover in trucking. No kid wants to give up their social life.
Truck drivers are going to have to get a substantial increase in pay and benefits to end any kind of high turnover. The job is just too demanding for the pay and benefits offered. It’s not even close to what it should be.
Oh and how may 18 year old females do you think are going to drive a truck?
These law makers aren’t thinking clearly.
Perhaps there wouldn’t be any driver shortage if we were paid decent wages and work humanly reasonable hours !!! This is a pile of sh…
There is NO shortage of drivers. If there was, freight would be rotting on the docks and driver’s pay would rise substantially due to the high demand. Are store shelves bare? Are we waiting in line at gas stations for the fuel trucks to deliver? Is construction being held up due to materials not being delivered? Are car lots empty of cars? Taking inflation into consideration, is driver’s pay any better? Of course the answer to all of those questions is a resounding no. There is definitely a competition for drivers; the more freight a company can deliver the better the potential for bigger profits. So, the company with the most drivers is going to get the most freight, simple as that. When company A can’t handle the load, the client goes to company B, then on to C if they have to. The reality is, someone will haul the load and most likely for a cheap price. This would not be the case if there truly was a driver shortage.
All this is, is an attempt for the larger crappy carriers who don’t treat their existing drivers well, to keep driver’s pay low and continue to do with them as they please. This is simple economics folks, do not fall for this nonsense. The best carriers, who treat their drivers with respect and show genuine appreciation, do not have a problem with driver retention or finding drivers as their fleet increases in size.
What an idiot. Exactly what we need is thousands more immature inexperienced know it alls driving trucks, playing games on their laptops and ipads, texting, holding up center lane traffic because their teacher (who has 6 months experience himself) told them to ignore all the slower traffic keep right signs and drive in the center, or fast, lane because he himself is an idiot. Not to mention the hundreds of attempts, bashed fenders, mirrows and air cleaners each of them will make daily in a mad attempt to get into the closest parking spot to the truck stop before 5 pm, or better yet, park at the pumps, go in, eat, shower, shop, talk to the fat girls, while working men wait to get to the pump to do what you are supposed to do, get fuel. Governmental madness.
at 18 you can vote, buy a house, get married,get unlimited credit cards, fight in Iran DRIIVE 80K lbs of metal at 65mph but not buy a beer (or gun)? something is wrong with this picture
You know what.
I agree with you. I am a Navy Vet here. I went in right out of highschool.
The main difference between military and “18 year old truck drivers” is the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That and the dishonorable discharge status.
Those two things are what keeps most people in check in the military. For one, when you go in you are profusely and sufficiently lectured about completing your contract. Do not go AWOL or commit a serious crime.
The result, most people bide their time, count there days, reap their honorable discharge, and move on with their lives.
There is no equivalent in the civilian truckers world.
Also, I do think this is a ploy to flood the job market with new applicants. Whatever good was planned by these lawmakers, I think truck companies’ snouts are dripping with all the new drivers they will have at their disposal.
Man it’s going to be funny as hell sitting in a restaurant at some truck stop, and seeing a kid walk in wearing s colorful hat with a propeller on top. I’ve heard of no shipper complaining about his freight not getting hauled. These people are moving some freight. The problem is, they just want to move it for half of what they’re paying now. And these mega carriers have bought too many trucks. They got 10,000 trucks and only 8,000 drivers so they’re screaming driver shortage. Quit buying so many trucks dummies, or fork over some more cash, then you won’t have that problem.
You cant drink a beer, but HERE, take this $100k piece of heavy equipment, along with this load of $500k merchandise, take it across the country, and deliver it. NO PROBLEMS HERE
Yes Derek Walker! Only skittles and rainbows exist in reality. Like you said, NO PROBLEMS HERE. Or at least that is how some people think problems are nothing but rainbows and a pot of gold
18 year olds should be left to the States and entry level 21 for Interstate if you have a previous State license. If not, Interstate at 24 and 1 year taken off for each year you had a State License. Exceptions being you haul cattle, work in the oil or construction field or haul LTL in a straight truck with 30″ minimum sleeper. Drivers of all ages must be responsible to keep their birth certificates up to date in a certified national registry of birth certificate examiners , unless born after 2020.
i started driving when i was 18. had to find a local gig driving a straight truck for a few years where i didn’t cross state lines. went OTR for a couple years at 22, now i do LTL at 27. not all young people are irresponsible morons. you just have to sort through the 97% of us that are.
I’m all for reducing the driving age. I’m against the part of the law that requires the truck to be state of the art with all the new “safety” tech. It just opens the door to mega carriers to continue to under cut owner operators and small companies and keep driver pay stagnat. It’s pretty bad when part time lumpers are being paid more than the driver
well I guess they can’t be any worse than the Russians