Swift Academy Licenses Suspended

Until I learn otherwise, I stand by my original figures, which I have obtained from the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles: That 5,000 licenses were ordered invalidated by the FMCSA - since that figure came from the NYS DMV Department of Driver Improvement, and not a federal agency, I suppose I cannot be 100% certain that figure is accurate; however, it is a direct quote and I stand by it until I hear otherwise. (The figure does seem accurate, however; if the school averaged 30 passing graduates a week, in three years' time, that would equal about 4,500 drivers - but again, I will seek confirmation on that figure Monday morning.)

The other figure - that being there are 313 Swift graduates with New York licenses - I am completely confident that that number is indeed correct. I will check with FMCSA Monday to confirm the total number of affected drivers.

As far as the comment of "I am sorry but the the things you learn on the pre trip are nothing you should forget. This is not something you leave in a classroom, these are things you should be checking on regular basis. When you received the notice to re-test you should have studied"

When you do your pre-trip daily, do any of you say OUT LOUD the things you are checking? Of course not! My biggest mistakes were checking things like lights without actually saying, "I'm checking my headlights, my turn signals, my flashers, etc." I got points off because I neglected to mention the exhaust, and that my wheels were not cracked.

I DID STUDY. I got the CDL manual from my state DMV office and studied. I had three days to study for the road test - and work 45 hours in that time also. I had very little time to study. I made mistakes. If any of you can take a road test after having been out of the classroom for any length of time and not make mistakes, well then I guess you're better drivers than I.

It is NOT true that the TDoS office was the sole focus of the investigation. In addition, the investigation also alleges improper actions on the part of the "third-party examiners" used to administer the skills and road test portion of the exam, which were Swift employees, licensed by the State of Tennessee as such "third-party examiners". This information comes directly from the Commissioner's office at the NYS DMV.

See: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/mar/12/swift-may-lose-testing-program/

And also: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/may/16/full-tilt-in-02/?printer=1/

Keep in mind that I stated I've been in contact with their office - in fact, I met personally with the Deputy Commissioner in her office in downtown Buffalo Friday morning, Jan 2nd. The commissioner himself, David Swarts, called his deputy from Albany while we were in conference to inquire of me and my issues with the NYS DMV. I stand by my information. It comes from the top brass within NYS DMV.

Also, I never said that the Millington Academy was closed now. However, I have found news articles from last year stating that the school stopped taking new students, and online blog entries from that timeframe stating that instruction at the school had indeed been halted, at least for a short period of time. Unfortunately, I don't have the URL of those particular sites stating such - I've been working on this for at least two weeks now and it took me days to find those - but, I will search for them again and post as I find them.

I do indeed have a beef with Swift, as do, I'm sure the other 313 New York State drivers affected by this. (I'd mention the 5,000 again, but I'd hate to be chewed out again.) As I stated earlier, I have filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commision and the NYS Attorney General's office. Just because Swift may ultimately be to blame, however, does not exempt the states' respective departments of motor vehicles and/or the FMCSA from the stated position that suspending those licenses with such extreme haste could cause undue burden on those drivers, their families, and those drivers' employers!