The U.S. Department of Transportation has released more details about its plans to rid the trucking industry of bad actors.
On Friday, Feb. 20, DOT Secretary Sean Duffy and FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs outlined a variety of efforts to clean up the trucking industry. Those efforts include taking unsafe truck drivers and motor carriers out of operation, improving driver training and cracking down on fraud.
“When we get on the road, we should expect that we should be safe,” Duffy said. “And that those who drive those 80,000-pound big rigs, that they are well-trained, they’re well-qualified, and they’re going to be safe.”
Over the past year, the administration has focused on cleaning up the non-domiciled CDL system and issuing out-of-service orders to truck drivers who are unable to speak and read English.
Following Friday’s news conference, FMCSA released more details about additional efforts “to restore the integrity of American trucking.”
“Collapsed safety standards have opened a door to fraudulent carriers and unqualified schools,” the agency wrote. “What was once a proud, American-built industry has been turned into the Wild West. Under President Trump and Secretary Duffy, we’re dismantling every link in the chain to restore law and order to our nation’s roads. Americans deserve safe roads, and we’re going to deliver them.”
What’s the plan?
While many of these actions will still need to go through the rulemaking process, FMCSA provided an overview of some of the ways to improve driver standards and clean up the industry.
- English-only standards
- FMCSA plans to require that all CDL tests be conducted in English.
- The agency has been placing truck drivers out of service for not being proficient in English. Now, FMCSA wants to take the next step and revoke those drivers’ CDLs.
- New registration system
- Fraud crackdown
- Motor carriers will be required to have a physical location where records can be inspected within 48 hours.
- Operation SafeDRIVE will be expanded in more states “to pull unsafe truckers off the road.”
- FMCSA will utilize sting operations to shut down CDL mills that are certifying unqualified truck drivers.
- The agency plans to no longer allow training schools to self-certify.
- FMCSA will continue efforts to identify and shut down chameleon carriers, which operate under multiple DOT numbers.
- Strengthening driver safety
- The agency also plans to crack down on ELD manufacturers by doing more vetting. Like CDL training schools, ELD manufacturers have been allowed to self-certify. FMCSA said this has allowed many faulty devices to reach the market. LL
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