“This is no surprise to any American who drives a vehicle,” he said. The program will ensure that the industry has enough drivers to meet growing freight demands, he said.īut Peter Kurdock, general counsel for Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety, said federal data shows that younger drivers have far higher crash rates than older ones. “This program creates a rigorous safety training program, requiring an additional 400 hours of advanced safety training, in which participants are evaluated against specific performance benchmarks,” Geale said. In a statement, Nick Geale, vice president of workforce safety for the trucking associations, noted 49 states and Washington, D.C., already allow drivers under 21 to drive semis, but they can’t pick up a load just across a state line. The test is part of a broader set of measures from the Biden administration to deal with the trucker shortage and improve working conditions for truck drivers. Congress could expand the program with new laws. The program will run for up to three years, and the motor carrier agency has to turn in a report to Congress analyzing the safety record of the teen drivers and making a recommendation on whether the younger drivers are as safe as those 21 or older. Gorsuch refuses to wear mask, Sotomayor works remote

The FMCSA must reach out to carriers with excellent safety records to take part in the program, according to the Transportation Department.

No more than 3,000 apprentices can take part in the training at any given time. Trucks used in the program have to have an electronic braking crash mitigation system, a forward facing video camera, and their speeds must be limited to 65 mph.Īfter probation, they can drive on their own, but companies have to monitor their performance until they are 21. Under the apprenticeship, younger drivers can cross state lines during 120-hour and 280-hour probationary periods, as long as an experienced driver is in the passenger seat. The group estimates that the nation is running over 80,000 drivers short of the number it needs, as demand to move freight reaches historic highs. The American Trucking Associations, a large industry trade group, supports the measure as a way to help with a shortage of drivers. It requires the FMCSA, which is part of the Transportation Department, to start the program within 60 days. The apprenticeship pilot program was required by Congress as part of the infrastructure bill signed into law Nov.

Big rig driver game