The U.S. Department of Transportation is giving nearly 3,000 truck driving schools and training providers 30 days to come into compliance with federal requirements or face having their accreditation revoked, and it has warned roughly 4,000 more that they could face similar action. The department says those numbers account for more than 40% of the nation’s roughly 16,000 authorized training providers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the enforcement is intended to “reign in illegal and reckless practices that let poorly trained drivers get behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses.” The DOT alleges that some programs have falsified or manipulated training records, failed to follow required curricula and instructor standards, and have not maintained or shared accurate documentation.
The move is part of a broader effort by the administration to ensure commercial drivers are properly trained and eligible for a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The DOT also proposed tighter limits on which immigrants can obtain CDLs, but a federal appeals court placed those rules on hold last month. The push for tougher oversight accelerated after several high-profile crashes involving foreign-born truckers, including a fatal multi-vehicle crash in Florida in August that killed three people.
Supporters of stricter rules argue they are necessary because some foreign-born drivers lack knowledge of U.S. traffic rules or sufficient English proficiency. Critics contend there is no basis for singling out immigrant drivers and say the approach amounts to an immigration-focused crackdown. That debate has left many immigrant truckers uncertain about their future in the industry.
Pawan Singh, who runs a small trucking company in Northern Virginia, told NPR he believes the safety measures are overdue. He said many programs graduate drivers who are not prepared to handle an 18-wheeler, and stressed the problem isn’t limited to newcomers or immigrants: “An untrained driver is dangerous whether they were born here or they were born overseas.”