Improving highway safety starts with a well-trained and qualified driver, FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said earlier this week at the Midwest Commercial Vehicle Safety Summit in Kansas City, Mo.
Only two months into the job as the leader of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the former Florida Highway Patrol chief has already made this motto a priority in the agency. In that time, FMCSA and the DOT have called out CDL mills and continued efforts to enforce English-language proficiency as well as clean up the non-domiciled CDL system across the U.S.
“No. 1 is to strengthen driver qualifications to ensure that we have the most qualified drivers on our roadways,” Barrs said of things he would like to accomplish during his time as administrator.
Following the end of the two-day safety summit’s first day, Barrs sat down with Land Line to talk about how FMCSA can achieve this goal.
“Entry-level driver training should be the basics of making sure that someone is qualified and knows how to drive a commercial motor vehicle,” Barrs said. “But if you’re not going through the steps that need to be taken, then you’re compromising safety.”
FMCSA’s entry-level driver training rule took effect in 2022, but the DOT has concerns about training schools that are skirting the rules and failing to produce qualified commercial drivers. It is not uncommon to find CDL schools advertising that they get applicants a license in one day.
Barrs said that the agency has concerns about the self-certification process allowed with entry-level driver training schools, electronic logging devices and medical examiners.
“The issue is that it opens the door up for a lack of oversight, which opens the door for potential fraud occurring,” Barrs said. “People not following the rules because no one is watching. I use the no one’s minding the story type of analogy. If nobody’s watching, then I’m going to find a way to skirt the system, which then compromises safety.”
FMCSA has already given the boot to thousands of CDL training providers and has placed thousands more on notice.
Currently, the entry-level driver training rule does not include a minimum number of behind-the-wheel training hours, a fact that draws considerable criticism from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Barrs acknowledged that there are likely opportunities to strengthen the rule, but that there also are steps that must be taken now as the rulemaking process can take months, if not years.
“If you want to strengthen the rule, then you’re going to have to go in and change the rule … That takes time,” Barrs said. “But what do we do with the current regulation we have now to be able to verify that you’re at least following the curriculum that is set forth. Do you actually have a curriculum that you are using to train drivers? Are you putting them behind the wheel?”
“We have to have more oversight with what we have today until we can work through tightening the belt with the current regulations.”
Another concern from the DOT is about the number of truck drivers who have received CDLs despite not possessing basic English skills.
In May, the DOT announced that it would begin requiring enforcement of longstanding English-proficiency regulations. During a news conference in Austin, Texas, DOT Secretary Sean Duffy said that truck drivers who are unable to read electronic road signs or communicate with law enforcement officers present a threat to highway safety.
“We’re here to restore common sense and safety to our roadways,” Duffy said. “For too long, misguided policies have prioritized political correctness over the safety of the American people … We are issuing new guidance that ensures a driver who can’t understand English will not drive a commercial vehicle in this country. Period. Full stop. Enforcing out-of-service violations is about preventing tragedies and saving lives.”
Barrs said it’s another reason that shows the CDL process deserves further scrutiny.
“If they could not speak English, how did they get past the driver training piece of this,” Barrs said.
Meanwhile, the agency could also compliance investigations to look into trucking companies that repeatedly hire drivers who don’t meet this standard.
A study released on Oct. 1 titled, “Are English-Language Violations Associated with Unsafe Carriers,” found that motor carriers with English-proficiency violations have received poor safety scores from the Department of Transportation. LL
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