WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are planning this summer to act on a petition filed 14 years ago requiring new trucking operators to take a standardized proficiency test before being granted operating authority, according to the Biden administration’s latest regulatory agenda.
The petition, filed by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) in January 2009, was in response to a final rule issued in 2008 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to implement a provision in a 1999 law aimed at improving the safety performance of new-entrant carriers.
Advocates had argued in its petition that FMCSA’s final rule had failed to establish a proficiency exam — which was included in the 1999 law — “to determine whether new entrant motor carriers possess the knowledge and capability to comply with applicable federal motor carrier safety requirements and, consequently, conduct safe operations.”
The petition prompted FMCSA to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in August 2009, but the proposal never progressed.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, a Supplemental Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for a New Entrant Safety Assurance Process rule is scheduled for August.
“We’re very pleased this has moved off the long-term actions list,” Peter Kurdock, Advocates’ general counsel, told FreightWaves.
“New carriers need to take a standardized test to make sure they’re aware of and comply with federal safety regulations. A member of the public would be astounded that the agency in charge of safe truck operations has not put into place measures enacted by Congress to make sure they’re doing everything they can to make sure drivers are compliant with the laws.
“Why they haven’t done this yet is mind-boggling. But hopefully this signals a new effort to get this across the finish line.”
When asked about placing the petition onto DOT’s latest agenda, FMCSA confirmed that doing so should be taken as a sign that it intends to move forward on implementing the proficiency test provision that was included in the 1999 law.
A source there also explained that the delay was caused by other regulatory priorities taken on by FMCSA over the last 10 years, including modifications to hours-of-service rules, mandating electronic logging devices, and establishing the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.
The 2009 ANPRM, which presumably will be used as the basis for the updated proposal, sought feedback in 11 areas as part of a proficiency exam for new carriers:
- Information on the feasibility of establishing the exam as a component of the New Entrant Safety Assurance Process.
- Information about analogous types of exams used in the motor carrier or other industries that could serve as models for a new entrant proficiency exam.
- Recommendations on testing protocols.
- Recommendations on how the agency should administer the exam for applicants.
- Recommendations on which motor carrier employees the agency should require to take a proficiency exam, and the feasibility of motor carriers retaining those employees through the duration of the New Entrant Safety Assurance Program.
- Information on the costs involved to develop, maintain, implement and administer the proficiency exams.
- Information on anticipated impacts on new entrants if the agency requires the exam as a condition for receiving new entrant authority and beginning operations.
- Information on how the exams would increase carrier knowledge of regulations.
- Information on how any increase in knowledge of regulations brought about by the exam itself would boost motor carrier safety.
- Other general comments related to establishing a proficiency exam as a component of the New Entrant Safety Assurance Process.
- Information on the particular needs of small entities in establishing an assurance process.
ATA, OOIDA have opposing views in 2009
Comments received by the agency on the 2009 petition included those from the American Trucking Associations, which supported the proficiency test requirement as well as requiring new entrants to complete safety training prior to receiving a DOT number.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association opposed the test, however, arguing that a pass/fail test “demonstrates only that the applicant found someone with an understanding of the pertinent regulations sufficient to take the test and get a passing score,” the group told FMCSA.
“A proficiency exam does not reflect practical knowledge of systems that will increase compliance with the regulations, does not ensure that pertinent ‘knowledge’ will be passed along to all personnel involved with safety matters, does not demonstrate that effective safety compliance systems will be established and, most important, does not in and of itself help prevent truck accidents.”
Stephen Dickinson
I have been a hazardous transportation
Driver for 43 years
What I see in a means of making highways and roads more safer
Is the new drivers coming in need a very detailed training from people who have at least 25 year of experience and are willing to train new drivers
These experienced Drivers know real road expiations key words for new drivers
Watch the slopes of the roads and highway interchanges haul your boxed goods like your hauling hazardous liquids good common sense is all you need and do they really know
How easily someone could be killed with even
An empty tractor trailer do they realize
What 30,000 LBS empty wt .feels like
It takes approximately 5 years to get a good feel for 79,000 . And warning 3 miles before a downhill look at air pressure gage’s closely
Listen to your air compressor it should not be
Be turning on building air then 30 seconds
Turning on again and again every 30 seconds
When you are not braking
There are A thousand things I could tell a new driver before he or her starts driving
A real critical thing is the front tires
Watch them very closely on pretrip inspection
And look at them every time before you get back in the truck look for nails, bolts sharp pieces of metal fragments it can be a matter of life or death with a front blow out .
Last Friday I was unloading bulk hazardous material and a dry van Driver was being loaded the loader was strapping the hazardous pallets as he loaded each pallet
The driver was a new driver
I told him he should get up there and check the straps him self after all he is responsible
For it being secured and the fines are big if
It is not done correctly he had no Idea
That he needs to pull and wiggle the straps
To make sure they are clicked in the slots correctly .
I quickly pulled out my phone pictures
And showed him what a secured load of hazardous looks like including strapping and blocking with using empty pallets between the gaps when there is side to side 2’ gaps between pallets of hazardous freight
Wedged the pallets between the tote bins
So there is no side to side movement
A shifting load can cause a rollover
A new thing I see today is bamboo flooring in the new trailers I had a refrigerator trailer
With bamboo’s flooring the pallets were strapped good and tight and the pallets still
Moved 5 inches and I didn’t even have to make any fast stops.
Another thing when picking up a bulk liquid load and the shipper has a loader loading
Your load and he closes the lid and you are watched him tighten the lid before you leave the property don’t be lazy get up there and check the lid your self and make sure all valves are closed and lids are good and tight
It’s the driver’s responsibility.
Note I will be retiring in approximately 2 years
That will be 45 years then I would like to teach very detailed classes for the new Drivers especially hazardous goods
Hauling hazardous goods is not a close the doors and go go hurry
I had a manager one time ask me what’s taking me so long I answered back your loader loaded the trailer sloppy last night
And I won’t move until lt’s right
I then moved the product around added straps and used empty pallets to fill the gaps
Then I was ready to go . She never asked that question again she was a good manager she worked very hard every day managing a distribution warehouse.
Dal
There are a lot of drivers that have more knowledge than these government agencies kids who think they know what to do. Many of these truck drivers started when you were diapers. Let me ask a dumb question, How many drivers know how to drive with twin sticks?? As an old friend of mine once said, your only as dumb as the books tell you!! Or in other words not all jobs, can be done books ,you need to do the jobs for years to understand how to drive,back up,what route is best and which are not.How to load to go across country with out dumping the load ,what you can and can’t haul of hazmat. There’s a lot of thing people don’t understand about being a driver , like city or line haul. What areas to watch out for deer , bridges,and where you can get fuel at and much more
Paul Hilton
One yest that should me mandatory is that fact that all new carriers from the top down should have to take test in reading writing and speaking fluent English. Not Bosnian Russian Czech or any other language. English is how we run the trucking industry. If you can’t speak the language you don’t deserve a CDL or th rights to operate as a motor carrier in the USA