Trucking schools are reporting an uptick in testing appointments as prospective drivers attempt to avoid the upcoming CDL school requirements set to begin in February.
The new regulations for Entry Level Driver Training were mandated back in 2016, and will go into effect on February 7th. With these new regulations, prospective truck drivers will be required to complete training from a school listed on the Training Provider Registry. With this change, those who learned to drive from family or friends will be ineligible to take the CDL test, and some smaller trucking schools may be forced out of the industry if they are not listed as a viable training provider.
Because of the looming deadline, some trucking schools say that they are experiencing an increase in requests for testing as prospective drivers look to avoid the specific trucking school requirements by getting into the driver’s seat ahead of the new regulations.
People like Mike Moscinski, Vice President of TRAINCO trucking school in Perrysburg, Ohio, say that this increase in appointments is also a part of another upward trend in those looking to enter the trucking industry.
““There are some rule changes coming that aren’t a part of the pandemic but that will impact some of the driver shortage,” Moscinski said to WTOL News.
“[But] our enrollment is up, so there are quite a few people getting into training! But I don’t know if the number of people getting into trucking is equal to the number of people who have exited.”
Stacey Fletcher, a current student at TRAINCO, says that several of her classmates are attempting to obtain their CDL before the new school regulations go into effect.
“I’m a barber by profession and I have a lot of clients that come in and they’re truck drivers. And they’re just talking about the shortage and the money there is to be made and I just wanted to get into the system.”