CDL Retest Set for 1,000 More

More than 1,000 truckers in Pennsylvania will have to retake a portion of their commercial driver license exam due to problems discovered at two third-party testing centers.

An undercover investigation of Martini Inc. in Hazelton and the Schuylkill Training and Technology Center in Pottsville found that testers were passing people who should have failed the skills portion of the test.

“We sent people in with the explicit objective of failing all three components of the test, and unfortunately they passed all the components and were sent away with their commercial credentials in hand,” said Rebecca Bickley, the director of the bureau of driver licensing for the state’s Department of Transportation. The skills portion of the CDL exam is comprised of a pre-trip inspection, basic control maneuvers and the on-road test.

The improprieties are forcing the transportation department to retest 1,040 drivers who got their CDLs from the two facilities. The state agency is contacting 221 drivers tested by Martini since 1997 and 819 tested by the Schuylkill center since 1994.

Drivers will have until May 3 to retake the road skills test or lose their license. According to PennDOT, none of the drivers will have to retake the written test if they pass the skills portion.

To handle the free re-evaluations, the transportation department has set up a special site in addition to its regular test facilities.

For the full story, see the April 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.