Like its Canadian counterpart the Canadian Trucking Alliance, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) is calling on enforcement agencies to step up activities against the trucking industry.
In a recent blog titled Why an enforcement surge is needed in trucking, the association wrote “We need to ensure all federal regulations are evenly enforced by every state. That includes entry-level driver training standards so that new entrants to the industry can’t skirt the base requirements of the job. Too many shady training providers across the nation are operating CDL mills, foregoing federally required curriculum to fast-track prospective drivers for a fee. These fraudulent entities put profit over safety and need to be shut down immediately.”
Sound familiar? The CTA and its provincial member associations have been calling on government to heighten enforcement activities to weed out bad actors, including driver licensing mills and carriers that misclassify drivers.
The ATA also commended the USDOT for threatening funding cuts to three states accused of not enforcing a recent out of service provision for drivers who are unable to demonstrate proficiency in English.
“Federal English language proficiency requirements exist for a reason: every commercial driver operating in the United States must be able to read road signs, communicate with law enforcement, and understand safety instructions. When states fail to enforce these standards, they put lives at risk,” ATA leader Chris Spear said in a statement.
“The vast majority of professional drivers meet these requirements and take pride in their responsibility to keep America moving safely. But allowing bad actors to bypass the law undermines that commitment and threatens the credibility of the entire system.
“ATA has long supported strict enforcement of English proficiency standards, along with the broader regulatory framework that keeps our roads safe and fair. We commend the Trump Administration for holding states accountable, and we urge swift, consistent action to close these dangerous loopholes. Safety must never be optional.”
The association’s call for increased enforcement is not new. It made a similar plea to lawmakers earlier this year. But the ask has been amplified following a high-profile crash in Florida in which a truck driver making an illegal u-turn resulted in three fatalities in a passenger vehicle that collided with his trailer. The truck driver was licensed in California despite being an undocumented resident, reports have said.
