Too Young? We'll Never Know
Wolf used car research to stall truck driver training. That's wrong.
DEBORAH WHISTLER
EDITOR
It was a controversial concept from the get-go. Any right-thinking person would take pause at the thought of allowing 18-year-olds behind the wheel of big rigs. Even the folks who originally envisioned the program were wary.
So the members and staff of the Truckload Carriers Assn. spent many, many hours developing this pilot project. It would develop the best young people and train them extensively, providing an apprentice program to attract younger, more desirable drivers into the profession.
The program was developed with safety utmost in mind. It would be extremely selective about which young people could participate. Carried out as planned, it would have provided such extensive training that its graduates would have been the best-trained in the history of the industry.
But the Fat Lady's already singing in Washington. Word on the Hill is the TCA's 18-year-old driver program is a political dead duck.
A little history: For some time, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been considering the pilot program to lower the age requirement for a Commercial Driver's License from 21 to 18. A year and a half ago, the agency asked for comments.
Why was this project necessary? Trucking has been at a disadvantage in attracting higher caliber personnel. Most young people who aren't college-bound are looking for training that gets them into the workforce by 18 or 19 years of age. Most are already established in other careers before they're old enough to be a long-haul truck driver.
And/or they have already started a family by the time they are 21 and can't afford the time and expense of truck driver training.
The shortage of quality drivers is a problem that will only get worse.
The thinking behind TCA's program was to set up a system where young people, carefully selected, could receive intensive training under strict supervision by carriers with exceptional safety records.
One of the main folks responsible for submarining the program is Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), who asked the U.S. Transportation Secretary, Norman Mineta, to nix the creation of the pilot.
"While I understand the importance of the trucking industry to the U.S. economy, the safety of the traveling public must be put first," Wolf wrote in a letter to Mineta.
Wolf, a vocal critic of truck safety, wrote that "statistics show that drivers in the 18-20-year-old age group are three times as likely to be involved in a fatal crash as drivers over 21," citing a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute report.
The study Wolf refers to deals with untrained automobile drivers. Those stats come as no surprise, considering that most Driver Ed programs are sorely lacking. But despite the auto safety statistics, teenagers still cruise the highways in cars. Maybe Wolf should refocus his safety sights there.
Ironically, most of the young people involved in the TCA-planned project would have been close to 21 years old by the time they completed their training and were qualified to drive solo.
Doubly ironic is the fact that in many states 18-year-olds are already piloting commercial trucks. They just can't take them over state lines. Obviously, not all young people are a danger behind the wheel of a truck.
It's just another example of painting a whole group with the same brush. All 18-year-olds aren't equal. All driver training isn't equal. And all trucking company safety practices aren't equal.
This program was a potential solution to a distressing and growing problem. It was designed to attract the best young people to the best companies for the best training.
It was well-conceived by reasonable trucking professionals, and designed to be as close to bulletproof as it could get. It deserved to have a chance.
It's a shame it won't.
