The Department of Transportation has announced that more than 550 CDL training schools found in violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)’s standards of safety received notices of proposed removal from FMCSA’s national training provider registry. FMCSA mobilized more than 300 investigators across 50 states to conduct over 1,400 sting operations. Noncompliant schools lacked qualified instructors, used fake addresses, and failed to properly train drivers on the transportation of hazardous materials, among other violations. One school removed for violating safety standards had previously provided training for school bus drivers.
“For too long, the trucking industry has operated like the Wild, Wild West, where anything goes and nobody asks any questions. The buck stops with me. Under President Trump, my team is cracking down on every link in the trucking chain that has allowed this lawlessness to impact the safety of America’s roads. American families should have confidence that our school bus and truck drivers are following every letter of the law and that starts with receiving proper training before getting behind the wheel,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy.
Over the course of five days, the FMCSA conducted 1,426 on-site investigations of driver training providers, which resulted in:
- 448 notices of proposed removals issued to schools that failed to meet basic safety standards.
- 109 training providers voluntarily removed themselves from the Training Provider Registry upon hearing investigators were on the way.
Common violations included:
- Unqualified Teachers: Instructors did not even hold the correct licenses or permits—such as for school buses—for the vehicles they were teaching their students to drive.
- Improper Vehicles: Schools were using vehicles that didn’t match the type of training being offered.
- Incomplete Assessments: Providers failed to properly test students on basic requirements.
- State Non-Compliance: Schools admitted to investigators that they did not even meet their own state’s specific requirements.
“We mobilized hundreds of investigators to visit these schools in person to ensure strict compliance with federal safety standards,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs. “If a school isn’t using the right vehicles or if their instructors aren’t qualified, they have no business training the next generation of truckers or school bus drivers.”
An additional 97 training providers remain under investigation for compliance issues.
The original announcement can be found here.
