Lawmakers Seek CDL Crackdown

Two federal transportation lawmakers are determined to prevent truckers with bad driving records from keeping their commercial driver licenses.

Reps. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and Tom Petri (R-Wis.) said they would seek legislation to restrict license reinstatement after learning that the driver of the tractor-trailer involved in the Amtrak collision in Bourbonnais, Ill., was about to get his CDL back.

Truck driver John R. Stokes was operating on a probationary license at the time the train smashed into his rig at a crossing. Illinois had suspended his CDL in January for 60 days because of three speeding tickets.

Illinois officials said March 25 that Stokes’s CDL would be reinstated.

Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said he was “stunned to learn that the driver may well have his license reissued.”

“Something is seriously wrong with our system when an individual with a long history of dangerous driving, who is the primary suspect in causing a deadly train crash, can be given his permanent license back and the government is powerless to stop it,” Shuster said at a Capitol Hill press conference.

“This will give us the impetus to review the CDL program to make sure that people don’t slip through the cracks in the future,” said Petri, chairman of the House Ground Transportation Subcommittee.

Stokes has not been charged in the March 15 crash that killed 11 people and injured more than 100 aboard the City of New Orleans passenger train.

Shuster released a copy of Stokes’ driving record that he had obtained. “This driver has been involved in six accidents, 11 fatalities and several suspensions for other violations during his career,” Shuster said.

For the full story, see the March 29 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.