Driver retention, young drivers to be addressed at MCSAC meeting

Improving driver retention and proposals to allow younger drivers to enter the industry will be among the topics discussed when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee meets later this month.

The committee, which consists of 25 industry stakeholders, is scheduled to meet via videoconference on July 19 and July 20, according to a notice set to publish in the Federal Register. The meetings are scheduled to run from 9:15 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Eastern time each day.

According to the FMCSA, the committee was established in 2006 to provide the agency with advice and recommendations on motor carrier safety programs and motor carrier safety regulations.

OOIDA President Todd Spencer serves as a member on MCSAC and has used his time on the committee to provide a voice for truck drivers. For instance, Spencer has used the platform to explain to other committee members and the agency that increases to the number of regulations often do not lead to an increase in safety.

At the 2020 MCSAC meeting, Spencer said the agency needs to focus on the initiatives that have been proven to improve highway safety and move away from regulations with no proven safety benefits.

“There needs to be an effort to evaluate the performance of initiatives to see if there is a positive impact, a negative impact, or no impact at all,” Spencer said. “If there isn’t a positive impact on safety, then we should move on.”

2021 MCSAC meeting agenda

According to the notice, the July 20 MCSAC meeting will include discussions about workforce skills for the motor carrier sector and identified gaps, opportunities and potential best practices to meet future workforce needs and driver retention for the motor carrier industry.

The committee also will be asked to discuss how to deal with an aging workforce and the possibility of allowing younger drivers to enter the industry.

OOIDA says claims of a long-term shortage of truck drivers are false and proposals to lower the interstate driving minimum from 21 years old to 18 would be detrimental to highway safety. Instead of lowering the driving age, OOIDA says the solution is to improve pay and working conditions for long-haul truck drivers.

Driver subcommittee

The MCSAC meeting notice said its first driver subcommittee meeting will be later this summer.

Earlier this year, the FMCSA named 25 people to serve on a commercial motor vehicle driver panel, which will serve as a subcommittee of MCSAC. The driver panel will be chaired by Spencer.

According to the MCSAC meeting notice, the driver subcommittee will be asked to give its input on workforce needs later this summer. LL