Federal transportation officials say nearly half of the country’s commercial truck-driver training schools are not meeting basic requirements, setting up the industry for a major shake-up in how new drivers are trained and certified.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, a federal transportation department review found that about 44 percent of the nation’s roughly 16,000 truck-driver training programs don’t meet required standards. The review looked at curriculum requirements, record-keeping, instructor qualifications, and documentation of behind-the-wheel instruction. Schools that fell short were flagged for possible removal from the federal Training Provider Registry, which students need to take the licensing test.
Roughly 3,000 schools could be removed immediately if they don’t fix the issues within the next month. Another 4,000 schools were issued warnings, putting an even larger portion of the training pipeline under pressure. Regulators say the most common problems involved incomplete paperwork, missing training records, and instructors who did not meet the federal qualifications.
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Transportation officials say the goal is to raise safety standards, not limit who can join the industry. Still, the scale of the problem could make it harder for new drivers to get licensed if many schools lose certification at once. That could add more strain to an industry already dealing with tight labor conditions and steady freight demand.
These findings connect back to the new training rules that took effect in 2022. Those rules were meant to set a basic, consistent standard for every new driver. But states haven’t all applied them the same way, and the review shows there’s still a lot of uneven training out there.
Schools now have a tight window to make corrections before losing certification, and state agencies have been told to prepare for possible disruptions. The Transportation Department said it will continue to monitor schools and update the Training Provider Registry as improvements are made.
