FMCSA wants input of recent CDL recipients for entry-level driver training rule

As it prepares to issue a proposed rulemaking on training entry-level truck drivers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)  will invite over 80,000 drivers who attained a commercial driver’s license (CDL) within the past three years to complete a brief confidential survey online.

In its notice posted in today’s Federal Register (Docket No. FMCSA-2014-0388), FMCSA said it aims “to examine, by a one-time collection of survey data, the relationship of CDL entry-level driver training (CDL ELDT), as influenced by any subsequent employer training that may have been received, to [the] safety performance of the drivers. The goal of this research is to contribute to other related research being done evaluating the relationship of CDL ELDT to subsequent safety performance of the drivers.

“The results of this study, along with others, will provide FMCSA with information to support its consideration of the congressionally mandated requirement to establish enhanced minimum training requirements for CDL entry-level drivers from those currently required at 49 CFR 380.503,” the agency added.

FMCSA noted that no national database exists that “contains or collects data on the training received by drivers to enable them to qualify for a CDL.”

From today (11/07/14) ,FMCSA will accept public comments for 60 days on its initiative to survey CDL holders.