For some regulations, the wheels of changes move slowly. In 1991, Congress lobbied for stricter regulation on driver training. In 1993, a panel developed a proposal. Eleven years later, a final rule was recommended that would require perspective CDL holders to know more about their potential jobs than what the CDL exam requires.
Advocates argued the new recommendation did not go far enough to ensure safety for the public and training for the driver. Special interest safety groups lobbied for more road training. The courts agreed more training was necessary and ordered the agency to review the rule, which led to the 2007 ruling that required perspective CDL holders to obtain a CDL from an accredited school that required road and classroom training.
After tweaking the rule for more than 20 years, why hasn’t a final rule been implemented? Agency Specialist Richard Clemente says that the additional training requirement would require a significant amount of money.
He also said the ideas and suggestions are based on speculation and “intuition” and not facts and statistics. The agency has not been able to prove that more road training cuts down on accidents.
A third hurdle for the rule is whether the agency has the authority to regulate intrastate training.
Oliver Patton at Trucking Info. has taken a closer look at the potential regulation and its costs verses benefits and a potential timeline for a final rule.