For decades, we’ve struggled both with the whole driver-training issue and at what age someone is ready to accept the immense responsibility that comes with working as a driver.
Though I haven’t researched in depth the history of such proposals, I do know the latest Congressional bills to allow 18-20-year-olds, with certain restrictions, to drive interstate don’t spring from exactly brand-new ideas. Congress has introduced bills since 2015 that, if passed, would have changed the current interstate rules, and the idea certainly has been talked about for a much longer time than that.
Is a public debate the best way to address the questions surrounding whether an 18-year-old person should be offered the option to drive a commercial vehicle across state lines?
I was able to talk earlier in the year to Vicki Kimball, now former program instructor for the Tri-County Technical Center located in Dexter, Maine. This was an eye-opening opportunity to learn about how successful this decades-old educational program has been. This public vocational school’s two-year truck driver training program graduates on average 20 students per year. It could well be an educational model that many other states and schools learn from.
Part of the formula for success there lies in the CDL rules within the state of Maine. These 16-18-year-old students have the option to obtain an intrastate CDL after first having a valid license to drive a smaller vehicle. That opens up immediate employment opportunities locally in-state.
Vicki Kimball’s passion for these opportunities was easy to recognize as she described what is a time-tested model for developing competent young drivers. Vicki’s personal experience as a team driver with her husband for 5 years, too, has provided a strong foundation with the requisite knowledge needed.
When I listened to her, I sensed a bit of the drill sergeant’s approach to managing these students’ futures. Strong passion, I might call it, with no small amount of compassion. She emphasized the way new students quickly develop a more mature attitude through training, really grabbing hold of the notion of personal responsibility for their education and actions.
