Panel Endorses Hours-Based Approach for Entry-Level Driver Training Rule

This story appears in the June 8 print edition of Transport Topics.

WASHINGTON — This time around, federal regulators say they are convinced an advisory committee has come up with the ingredients for a successful entry-level driver training rule.

Regulators attempted for three decades to develop a proposal to give rookie drivers the training they need to be safe operators.

Now, another effort, a so-called “negotiated rulemaking,” has yielded the basis of what could become law: an hours-based approach to behind-the-wheel instruction.

Larry Minor, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s associate administrator for policy, lauded the work of the advisory committee — reached by consensus after three months — saying he was convinced that this time, recommendations from the panel of trucking, motor coach, law enforcement and driver school trade group executives will help the agency shape a successful rule.

“I think we did reach a consensus with a broad group of stakeholders,” Minor told Transport Topics after the advisory group’s final two-day meeting ended May 29. “The new notice of proposed rulemaking will be much better received than the 2007 NPRM.”

The 2007 proposed rule was scrapped in 2013 because of industry discord and anticipated hurdles in gaining White House approval.

The agency is now aiming for an Oct. 15 publication date for the new proposed rule.

During the committee’s vote to include the hours-based driving nstruction proposal in the overall package, representatives of American Trucking Associations and the National Association of Small Trucking Companies voted “no.” However, the final vote to forward the entire package of recommendations was unanimous.

Boyd Stephenson, a committee member and ATA’s new vice president of international supply chain operations, said a study by the American Transportation Research Institute showed that the number of instruction hours for new drivers is “completely unrelated to safety in the future.”

But with an industrywide driver shortage, Stephenson said, drivers who ace their behind-the-wheel instruction still would need to put in the full requirement of 30 hours rather than joining the job market.

“Overall, the deal is very good, and ATA is very excited and we’re very supportive,” Stephenson said. “The comments I got from some of the agency representatives was that this really gave them a lot of ideas about what they can and should and will be doing.”

The committee’s recommendations included a core classroom curriculum and a minimum of 30 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction for those seeking a Class A commercial driver license and 15 hours for Class B CDL seekers; qualifications and certification of driving schools and instructors; guidelines for refresher courses when CDLs lapse; and a plan to establish a website for driving schools the agency approves.

If the recommendations are adopted in the rule, schools would be required to certify driver academic course completion and driving competency, and forward those certifications to FMCSA before the driver’s testing for a CDL.

Don Lefeve, CEO of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association, said he believes the rule will succeed this time.

“One of the things that should be noted is that this is a compromise,” he told Transport Topics. “There were various viewpoints, even down to the wire. It may not be what everybody wanted, but I think that’s the purpose of a negotiation.”

In the past, people were “talking past each other rather than sitting down and hammering out the issues and coming to an agreement for what was needed,” Lefeve said.

“I think it was a good effort and a lot of hard work,” said John Lannen, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition. “Not everybody got what they wanted, but at the end of the day, we’re going to hopefully improve safety.”

Despite the consensus, the agreed-upon rule in no way is final. To pass the scrutiny of the White House Office of Management and Budget and the courts, FMCSA will need to provide backup data establishing that new driver training produces safety outcomes.

On that point, agency officials have a few studies under way and are working with large motor carriers to collect historical data generated by carrier “finishing schools” and subsequent safety records of the new drivers.

“I think that one of the salient benefits of this entire process is that we will now know who ‘trained’ and who ‘gave’ the CDL to someone that perhaps out on the highway had some major problems,” said David Parker, a committee member and senior legal counsel for Great West Casualty Co. “It’s a form of accountability and responsibility.”