Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy continued his department's assault on problems within the trucking industry by recently announcing reforms aimed at training programs, brokers, electronic logging devices, carriers, an agency within his own department, and even individual truckers.
During a press conference last Friday, Feb. 20, he and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Derek Barrs recapped steps already taken to address what they said were safety issues, and announced more efforts to eliminate other industry problems.
Duffy also took the opportunity to slam the Biden administration's lax immigration policies he said allowed immigrants to illegally enter the U.S. and easily become truck drivers. He said many immigrants were certified by sham training programs, received non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses from states, and went to work for carriers willing to overlook their lack of English language skills.
“Once you start to pay attention, you see that all these bad things have been happening. And the consequence of that is that Americans get hurt,” Duffy said. “When we get on the road, we should expect that we should be safe. And that those who drive those 80,000-pound big rigs, that they are well-trained, they’re well-qualified, and they’re going to be safe.”
One of the major trucking advocacy organizations has praised the announcement by Duffy and Barrs.
During the hour-long press event, which was streamed live on YouYube, Duffy reviewed all of the steps taken in the last year to address avariety of issues, Those eforts began with a new regulation requiring all truck drivers to be able to speak English and properly read road signs, and included efforts by the FMCSA to audit states' CDL processes, and investigate training providers.
Duffy and Barrs also announced several new rulemakings aimed at cleaning up industry problems. They include:
- Eliminating the ability of driver training providers to self-certify that they meet all federal standards
- Revising and modernizing the 40-year-old federal motor carrier registration system
- Improving procedures for suspending or revoking approval for noncompliant carriers or schools
- Requiring state motor vehicle departments to conduct all CDL testing
- Adding qualification and testing requirements for brokers
Duffy and Barrs also said all CDL knowledge tests must now be administered only in English, and that efforts will be sharpened to ferret out and eliminate so called chameleon carriers.
Efforts to eliminate noncompliant electronic logging devices will continue. Barrs said FMCSA has already removed 42 devices that self-certified but did not meet federal requirments.
Barrs admitted his administration has a hefty workload to shoulder, but the work will get done.
"We're biting off a lot at FMCSA, but we're going to keep on chewing."
After the event, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer said, “OOIDA and the truckers across America that we represent applaud Secretary Duffy and Administrator Barrs for taking decisive action to make our roads safer and our industry more professional. For too long, individuals have entered the trucking workforce under the false narrative of a nationwide ‘driver shortage’ without receiving the training necessary to safely operate an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle.
"For years, chameleon carriers, CDL mills, and weak English language proficiency enforcement have allowed unqualified drivers to slip through the cracks compromising safety as well as facilitating fraud. Rather than lowering standards, the Trump Administration is strengthening training, licensing, and qualification protocols to ensure properly trained and vetted drivers operate on our nation’s highways. That is a win for public safety and for the professional truckers who take pride in this industry."
