Regulators Provide Little Oversight of Truck Driving Skill Testers, Report Says
Federal regulators provide weak oversight of third-party contractors that most states use to administer driving skills tests to truck drivers applying for commercial driver licenses, according to a new government report.
The Government Accountability Office report, made public last month, said the mission of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration includes ensuring that drivers have the knowledge and skills required to safely drive commercial vehicles.
“However, FMCSA and states face competing priorities in their efforts to ensure that CDL programs, including skills testers, supply businesses with the safe drivers they need to operate,” the GAO report said. “Weaknesses in FMCSA current oversight of CDL skills testing prevents the agency from providing reasonable assurance that state CDL programs comply with applicable federal regulations.”
The report noted that with the industry facing a worsening critical truck driver shortage, there will be an even greater need for close oversight of the CDL approval process.
As a result, GAO recommended that FMCSA continue to make changes to clarify its policy on oversight of states’ CDL programs and “improve or obtain a mechanism to track oversight activities.”
In recent months, FMCSA has been making efforts to tighten its oversight, attempting to balance fraud risk with the states' need to mitigate delays in test scheduling by using third-party testers, according to the GAO.
Sean Garney, manager of safety policy for American Trucking Associations, said ATA believes third-party testers offer a solution to reducing wait times with a minimum of fraud risk.
“The report did indicate that some states that are concerned with the fraud risk will allow motor carriers to conduct their third-party testing with the idea that they have a more intrinsic need to produce safe drivers,” Garney said. “But clearly the report said the agency needs to improve its oversight of CDL testing.”
A majority of states — 39 of 50 — use third-party testers to administer commercial driver license driving skills tests, the report said.
States told GAO that they use third-party testing agencies generally to cut costs, reduce wait times and backlogs and increase test availability.
The other 11 states and the District of Columbia said they chose not to use third parties because they perceived a greater fraud risk.
