The U.S. Department of Transportation is threatening to revoke accreditation for nearly 3,000 truck driving schools and training providers unless they meet federal requirements within 30 days, and has warned another 4,000 that they could face similar action. The department says the group represents more than 40% of the nation’s roughly 16,000 authorized training providers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the move is meant 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 some programs have falsified or manipulated training data, failed to meet required curriculum and instructor standards, and not maintained or shared accurate records.
The crackdown is part of the administration’s broader effort to ensure that commercial drivers are qualified and eligible for a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The DOT also proposed new limits on which immigrants can obtain CDLs, but a federal appeals court put those rules on hold last month. The push for tougher rules followed several high-profile crashes involving foreign-born truckers, including a fatal multi-vehicle crash in Florida in August that killed three people.
Supporters of the tougher approach say restrictions are urgently needed because some foreign-born drivers do not know traffic rules or lack sufficient English proficiency. Critics counter that there is no evidence to justify singling out immigrant drivers and say the policy amounts to an immigration-focused crackdown. That debate has left many immigrant truckers anxious about their future in the industry.
Small-business owner Pawan Singh, who runs a trucking company in Northern Virginia, said the safety measures are overdue. In an NPR interview, he acknowledged that many schools graduate drivers without adequate skills to handle an 18-wheeler, but emphasized the problem isn’t limited to newcomers or immigrants: “An untrained driver is dangerous whether they were born here or they were born overseas.”