CDL Still Susceptible to Fraud
OLIVER B. PATTON
WASHINGTON EDITOR
The commercial driver's license is not secure against fraud -- whether to protect safety or guard against terrorism.
So says the Department of Transportation's Inspector General in a new critique of the CDL.
The licensing system, which is run jointly by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the states, does not consistently screen applicants for basic information, said the report by Inspector General Kenneth Mead. Also, it is not aggressive enough in its pursuit of fraud.
And fraud remains a significant problem: "Suspected criminal activity dealing with CDLs has been identified in 16 states since 1998."
Most prominently, CDL scandals in Illinois and Florida have led to dozens of convictions for fraud and the revocation of hundreds of licenses. The Inspector General's report says that at least nine people have died in accidents involving drivers who illegally obtained CDLs in Illinois.
Last September, a man arrested in connection with the terrorism attacks was found to have a CDL with a hazardous materials endorsement.
While the CDL is generally acknowledged to be successful in preventing drivers from obtaining duplicate licenses, the shortcomings outlined in the Inspector General's report are well understood by authorities. FMCSA and the states have been called to task before and are working on fixes.
But the report says FMCSA has not gone far enough, and that fraud in testing and licensing remains "a significant problem."
For example, FMCSA should require states to check an applicant's citizenship, the report says. States do not have to make sure that applicants are U.S. citizens or legal residents. In fact, just four of the 13 states the Inspector General studied impose this requirement.
Also missing are standards requiring states to check state residency and verify an applicant's Social Security number. Another missing link is uniform standards for driver examiner qualifications, the report says.
Other problems:
• Federal standards require applicants to read and speak English but there is no standard requiring states to test the applicants, so the federal rule is not evenly enforced.
• In general, FMCSA needs to tighten its control over state programs. For example, the agency is supposed to ensure that each state complies with federal requirements, but it does not require states to provide in-depth assessments. Neither does it require states to track the driving tests conducted by each examiner -- one way to compare the number of tests to the number of licenses issued.
• In 39 states, CDL tests are handled by employees of third-party contractors rather than state officials. States are supposed to monitor the performance of these examiners, but the report estimates that thousands of them are not properly evaluated. The Inspector General suggested that FMCSA require states to use covert methods to track examiner performance.
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