Federal review finds 44% of US trucking schools don’t comply with government rules

Nearly of the truck driving schools in the U S may be forced to close if they lose their students after a review by the federal Transportation Department exposed they may not be complying with governing body requirements The Transportation Department announced Monday that it plans to revoke the certification of nearly schools unless they can comply with training requirements in the next days The targeted schools must notify students that their certification is in jeopardy Another schools are being warned they may face similar action Schools that lose certification will no longer be able to issue the certificates showing a driver completed training that are required to get a license so students are likely to abandon those schools Separately the Department of Homeland Assurance is auditing trucking firms in California owned by immigrants to verify the status of their drivers and whether they are qualified to hold a commercial driver s license This crackdown on trucking schools and companies is the latest step in the executive s effort to ensure that truck drivers are qualified and eligible to hold a commercial license This began after a truck driver that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says was not authorized to be in the U S made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people We are reigning in illegal and reckless practices that let poorly trained drivers get behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses Duffy disclosed Duffy has threatened to pull federal funding from California and Pennsylvania over the issue and he proposed vital new restrictions on which immigrants can get a commercial driver s license but a court put those new rules on hold On Monday he threatened to withhold million from Minnesota if that state doesn t address shortcomings in its commercial driver s license operation and revoke any licenses that never should have been issued either because they were valid beyond a driver s work permit or because the state never verified a driver s immigration status So far every state Duffy has threatened has been a Democratic state but he has disclosed the department is auditing a number of other states including Texas and South Dakota A spokeswoman for Minnesota Gov Tim Walz stated We take safety on our roads seriously and the Minnesota Department of General Safety has already worked to ensure we are in compliance with federal law Trucking schools fail to meet standards It s not clear how action against these trucking schools could affect the existing shortage of drivers but the executive director of the largest association of trucking schools Andrew Poliakoff reported a great number of of the schools being decertified were questionable CDL mills that would advertise being able to train drivers in just a sparse days instead of established training that normally lasts at least a month and includes lessons both behind the wheel and in the classroom He revealed those schools were really just fleecing people out of money without teaching them the skills they need to get hired or pass the test Trucking is an outstanding career And the people who are not familiar with the industry might see someone charging in for a long weekend or quick training And they may think that that s desirable but that s really not announced Poliakoff who leads the Commercial Automobile Training Association that includes schools with locations nationwide The Transportation Department declared the schools it is taking action against failed to meet training standards and didn t maintain accurate and complete records The schools are also accused of falsifying or manipulating training records Specific of them may have been inactive before this action Yogi Sanwal the owner revealed his company closed its truck driving school in It did so after it made various changes to comply with federal accreditation requirements which then triggered a county regime demand for upgrades like replacing sand and gravel with asphalt The company didn t have the it would have needed to do that at the time so it closed the school It had trained about truckers in the four to five years the school was open Sanwal stated Trucking industry groups have praised the effort to tighten up licensing standards and ensure that drivers can meet basic English proficiency requirements the Trump administration began enforcing this summer But groups that represent immigrant truck drivers say they believe multiple qualified drivers and companies are being targeted completely because of their citizenship status Bad actors who exploit loopholes in our regulatory systems are putting everyone at pitfall This is unacceptable revealed Paul J Enos CEO of the Nevada Trucking Association We are focused on solutions and resolute on seeing them implemented Todd Spencer President of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association commented the industry has long warned about the probable for problems if trucking schools are allowed to certify themselves When training standards are weak or in several instances totally non-existent drivers are unprepared and everyone on the road pays the price Spencer explained Immigrant drivers say they are being unfairly targeted Truck drivers of the Sikh faith have been caught in the crossfire and faced harassment because the drivers in the Florida crash and another deadly crash in California this fall were both Sikhs The North American Punjabi Truckers Association estimates that the Sikh workforce makes up about of truck driving on the West Coast and about nationwide Advocacy groups estimate about Sikh truck drivers work in the U S The Department of Homeland Protection didn t respond right away to questions about the effort to verify the immigration status of truck drivers but the UNITED SIKHS advocacy group declared they have heard directly from Punjabi company owners about these aggressive audits of immigration records Sikh and immigrant truckers with spotless records are being treated like individuals while they keep America s freight moving the UNITED SIKHS group stated When federal agencies frame lawful licensed drivers as risks it doesn t improve safety it fuels xenophobia harassment and even violence on the road Any approach built on fear instead of facts endangers families civil rights and the national supply chain California moved to revoke commercial driver s licenses after federal administrators raised concerns that they had been issued improperly to immigrants or allowed to remain valid long after a driver s work permit expired AP writer Audrey McAvoy contributed to this story Source