At the beginning of September, the US Department of Transportation announced it would be removing over 100 commercial driver’s license (CDL) training provider programs across the country from the Training Provider Registry.
Those truck-driving schools were taken off the federal registry for failing to meet specific regulations, many of which relate to a driver’s ability to read or speak English.
Reporting indicated over 5,000 CDL drivers failed to meet language proficiency requirements, which led to the removal of the providers who trained them.
Additional factors were reportedly taken into consideration as the US Department of Transportation seeks to ensure commercial drivers are receiving the proper training before being assigned to a new route or job.
Which truck-driving schools were removed?
Of the 100 programs removed from the federal registry, 13 were based in Texas. Those training schools include:
- Asere Transport
- EP Texas Trucking School
- CDL Aris Truck LLC
- Brothers CDL Training LLC
- Sun City CDL LLC
- ASC Technical Institute LLC
- Tony CDL Training
- CDL Commercial Trucks Training LLC
- Prime Time CDL
- Cultural Technical Institute LLC
- One Stop CDL Driver Training LLC
- MT Training Center LLC
- Mountain View Vocational Institute LLC
The federal scrutiny seems to be focused on whether a driver can understand English well enough to read road signs properly and/or to speak with officials and answer any questions asked of them.
Get Drivers Ed CEO Elyas Aboseid told KVUE he agrees with the recent crackdown. Aboseid said, “It’s our responsibility to make sure who actually is licensed on the road, so I support it.”
He added, “It’s very difficult operating a commercial driver vehicle. It is tens of thousands of pounds, and it’s very important to be able to really understand what you’re doing in the vehicle, let alone understanding, really, the road signs and the road rules.”
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requested emergency removals
According to Freight Waves, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requested emergency removal of the 100 CDL training program providers following the US Department of Transportation’s review. Those schools can no longer provide training for prospective drivers and will only be able to do so if they request administrative review and have their individual ruling reversed.
To identify the providers that trained the 5,000 drivers who failed to meet the English-language proficiency requirements, FMCSA compared roadside inspection records for drivers receiving citations with records obtained from the Training Provider Registry. Schools selected for immediate removal were essentially repeat offenders, as each program had trained roughly 10 or so drivers who all received violations.
Officials have indicated the problem goes beyond language proficiency, though. A report published in July noted that 400 separate investigations took place in 40 states and discovered that numerous facilities either employed unlicensed instructors, didn’t have the proper amount of space required to practice driving maneuvers, or were missing certain documents needed for proper student assessment.
Elyas Aboseid said it’s an unfortunate reality facing thousands of drivers and hundreds of schools now, but ultimately safety is more important than anything else. As he explained to KVUE, “A lot of schools have been affected by this, and it’s sad, right? And I think it’s something that is very important for them to really look at it from a perspective of safety rather than a perspective of business.”
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Related: Tierra Walker died after she couldn’t get an abortion. Her family is suing Ken Paxton
