WASHINGTON — The training departments of three large truckload companies want to be exempted from federal rules for entry-level driver training because they claim it is causing them to be short of both instructors and drivers.
Drivers of the three companies — Heartland Express (NASDAQ: HTLD), Contract Freighters Inc. (CFI) and Millis Transfer (acquired by Heartland Express in 2019) — receive training from Millis Training Institute (MTI), the training division of Millis Transfer.
MTI, on behalf of the three companies, has asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for an exemption from regulations requiring that a behind-the-wheel (BTW) training instructor have at least two years’ experience driving a commercial motor vehicle or two years’ experience as a BTW instructor.
“MTI has had CDL training since 1991 and has always required our ‘OTR’ [over the road] trainers to have one year minimum experience in order to train our students,” wrote MTI Training Director William Griffin in the companies’ exemption application. “We have an extensive ‘safety evaluation’ process and only those that pass our evaluation process will be allowed to train. We have been extremely successful with this policy.
“At present time, since February of 2022, we have had very little success in getting enough trainers to take and train our students due to the two-year BTW rule, hence the reason we are requesting this exemption.”
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Brent Allen Dodge
Most of the drivers with 2 years experience are not qualified to train anybody and 1 year experience would be bad move on FMCSA would to even expect that that would good move
Just a woman driving a truck
CFI WANTS HELP!!! What a joke they have NO respect for there Owner Operators & or company drivers I know I worked with them.
Just to see them beg makes me feels good!
Covenant Transport please look into them when I was a company driver it was a joke there training.
I was fresh out of School me and my partner the trainer was lazy & dirty. He didn’t teach us nothing he also was asleep in the top bunk well I was driving as well as when my co driver was behind the wheel for hours.
He would fall asleep for hours next to me & my co driver for hours in the passenger seat, he would take all our fuel points because at that time your a NOBODY to them they take full advantage of you. The pay was disrespectful through training.
They mess with your clock so you can keep driving & would use my breaks well we sat picking up or off loaded i didn’t like that because I would have preferred to stop to used a bathroom get out stretch my legs get a bit to eat NOPE..when we told him we where fatigued he tried to give us a caffeine shot of something I was shocked. As a women & Mother out here SAFETY is so important & I learned 1st hand that theses BIG companys don’t care about it.
I told Covenant about that trainer I took that to the top & they did nothing about it. Gave him another team & same thing happened after that then they called me to ask me what happened during our time.
I’m now 7yrs OTR same co driver & now going on 4 years Owner Operator NO ACCIDENTS OR POINTS ON MY LICENSE.