DOT to CDL mills: We’re coming after you

There isn’t a truck driver shortage. CDL mills will no longer be tolerated.

These were some of the key messages from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs during a news conference on Thursday, Oct. 30.

The remarks from Duffy and Barrs came hours after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Indiana State Police and ICE cooperated to arrest 223 illegal aliens on Indiana’s highways near the Illinois state line. According to DHS, those arrests included 146 truck drivers.

Duffy, who has been focused on addressing non-domiciled CDLs and English proficiency in the trucking industry for the past several months, said that states have been giving commercial licenses to people who are in the United States illegally.

“Instead of a state finding an illegal coming in to get a commercial driver’s license and calling ICE and saying ‘This person should be deported,’ they’re actually giving them a commercial driver’s license,” Duffy said. “These are people who can drive fuel tankers. They can drive school buses. They can drive all these very dangerous big rigs on our roads, and they are in the country unlawfully.”

In May, the DOT announced it would begin placing truck drivers, who lack basic English skills, out of service. Then, in late September, the FMCSA issued an emergency interim final rule to drastically reduce the number of people eligible for a non-domiciled CDL.

The DOT says it is part of an effort to make sure that only qualified drivers take the wheel of a commercial motor vehicle. Now, the department plans to go after the CDL training schools that are passing unqualified drivers, as well as the trucking companies that are hiring them.

CDL mills

Earlier this week, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., wrote a letter to Duffy, asking the DOT to crack down on the CDL mills across the country. A quick Google search will reveal CDL training schools that claim they can get people a license in 24 hours. The lawmakers said that real training is needed to make the highways safe.

Duffy used the news conference to issue a warning to bad actors who put an unqualified driver behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound vehicle.

“We’re going to go after the CDL mills,” Duffy said. “Companies will be held to account … We’re going to use every tool in our toolbox to make sure states comply.”

Barrs, who was confirmed as FMCSA’s leader earlier this month, drove home the message to drivers and businesses that fail to comply with the agency’s safety standards.

“If you don’t want to follow our standards, then you need to stay out of the profession,” Barrs said. “If you are not following the rules, we’re going to make sure we’re going to put you out of business. We’re going to come after you.”

Driver shortage myth

For decades, the American Trucking Associations has said there is a drastic shortage of truck drivers. And for decades, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has maintained that those claims are false.

In recent years, multiple studies have confirmed that OOIDA was right: there is no driver shortage, and any market tightness could be fixed by increasing wages.

Even so, ATA continued to cry driver shortage to push for such policies as lowering the interstate driving age to 18, making trucks bigger and heavier, as well as streamlining the CDL process. Just this past July, at a Senate Surface Transportation Committee hearing, ATA President Chris Spear kept the driver shortage narrative going.

“Self-serving factless claims that there is no driver shortage undermine the serious work of this committee,” Spear said.

For years, many lawmakers and regulators have tossed around the phrase “driver shortage” as if it were a fact.

But Duffy and Barrs are sending a much different message.

“I do not buy the idea that there are not enough American truck drivers,” Duffy said.

“If you need more drivers, make the case,” he added. “Tell people how great the industry is, how much you can make in a year by driving a truck. It will be met with a number of applicants if we need those new truckers to come in. I feel very confident that if we’re able to take out the unlawful, untrained, non-English speaking drivers, we will not have an issue on our roadways. We will not have issues with our deliveries. Our products will move, but they’ll move safer because we have better drivers who are driving those big rigs who have legal licenses and can actually speak the English language.”

OOIDA’s take

OOIDA, which has long advocated for increased driver training standards, supports the administration’s new approach.

“Secretary Duffy and FMCSA Administrator Barrs are right to crack down on CDL mills and the trucking companies that rely on unqualified drivers,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “Years of misguided ‘driver shortage’ policies have flooded America’s roadways with poorly trained newcomers operating 80,000-pound trucks, and innocent motorists are paying the price. Trucking is a skilled profession, not cheap labor. We applaud the Trump administration’s commitment to restoring standards in trucking that will not only save lives but help improve professionalism in our industry.”

Earlier this month, OOIDA sent a letter to House and Senate leaders urging them to beef up driver standards. The Association asked for enhancements in five areas, including a new requirement of at least 30 hours of behind-the-wheel training. Amazingly, the current regulations don’t mandate any behind-the-wheel training hours. LL