Earlier this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted Hawaii a limited exemption from parts of its CDL skills test.
Now, the state wants the exemption expanded and extended.
The notice of Hawaii’s application for exemption was published in the Federal Register on Monday, Dec. 30.
Regulations require a CDL applicant to possess and demonstrate specific on-road safe-driving skills, including the ability to choose a safe gap for changing lanes, passing other vehicles and crossing or entering traffic and the ability to signal appropriately when changing direction in traffic.
In February, FMCSA granted an exemption to drivers on the islands of Lanai and Molokai, which do not have the highway infrastructure to support a demonstration of some of the on-road driving skills required by the CDL test. Hawaii proposed to issue a restricted CDL to drivers who pass a limited skills test but would not be required to perform those on-road skills.
The exemption, which goes through Feb. 20, 2026, applies only to CDL applicants taking the skills test on the islands of Lanai and Molokai and limits these drivers to operating a commercial motor vehicle on those two islands only.
Hawaii’s latest exemption request asks FMCSA to also exempt drivers on these two islands from some of the entry-level driver training curriculum requirements.
In addition, Hawaii is now asking for a five-year exemption.
Specifically, Hawaii is asking for exemptions from Unit A3.1 of the Class A CDL training curriculum and Unit B3.1 of the Class B CDL training curriculum. Both units are titled, “Vehicle Controls Including: Left Turns, Right Turns, Lane Changes, Curves at Highway Speeds, and Entry and Exit on the Interstate or Controlled Access Highway.”
In the application, Hawaii said that it has no plans to change the infrastructure to include sections of roadway meeting these parameters before the expiration date of the current exemption.
FMCSA will accept comments on the exemption request through Jan. 29, 2025. To make a comment, click here or go to Regulations.gov and enter Docket No. FMCSA-2024-0289-0002. LL
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