Despite a two-month delay prompted by a recent order from President Trump and pressure from safety groups to alter one of the its key elements, a U.S. DOT rule establishing national training standards for entry-level truckers will proceed as scheduled, says Don Lefeve, president of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association. CVTA is a trade group representing driver schools and other training providers, like fleets who perform in-house driver training.
Several groups, including the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, have decried the rule’s lack of a behind-the-wheel time minimum. The agency originally proposed a 30-hour behind-the-wheel minimum, to be split between a driving range and on-road driving.
FMCSA nixed the minimum in the Final Rule, opting instead for a proficiency-based requirement. FMCSA-approved trainers will determine driver trainees’ proficiency, according to the rule.
The rule was published in early December and was scheduled to become law Feb. 6. A short-term regulatory freeze issued by Trump Jan. 20 delayed the rule’s effective date to March 21. The Feb. 7, 2020, compliance date has not been moved. The rule has three main components: Setting a classroom curriculum for driver trainees, requiring behind-the-wheel training and creating a registry of certified trainers from which trainees must use.
Recent hurdles aside, including calls from various groups for FMCSA to issue a supplemental rule to add a time-based behind-the-wheel requirement, the rule likely will remain as-is through its 2020 implementation date, says Lefeve.
OOIDA in December banned with several safety groups — Advocates for Auto and Highway Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways — to petition FMCSA to reinstate the 30-hour behind-the-wheel minimum. The Professional Truck Driver Institute followed their lead last week.
Such efforts to reform the rule before then are “dead in the water,” Lefeve says.
