FMCSA Sets New CDL Permit Standards That Require English-Only Testing

This story appears in the May 16 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week published a rule setting new national standards for commercial learner’s permits, or CLPs, and the tests drivers must pass to obtain a commercial driver’s license.

Many of the provisions in the rule are meant to prevent fraud, FMCSA said. Drivers will be required to provide Social Security numbers, prove they live in the United States legally and take the entire test in English.

All states will be required to issue learner’s permits after a driver completes a written test. The rule also sets a minimum age of 18 for the permits and prohibits drivers from using language interpreters during testing, among other regulations.

“Overall, we think that the changes are moving in the right way,” Boyd Stephenson, manager of safety and security operations at American Trucking Associations, told Transport Topics.

“Minimum standards across 51 licensing jurisdictions are very helpful for motor carriers engaged in interstate commerce,” Stephenson said.

States must comply with the law by July 2014, FMCSA said when it published the rule May 9.

The rule requires a minimum 14-day waiting period between getting a learner’s permit and taking the CDL driving test.

FMCSA originally had proposed that drivers be required to wait at least 30 days between receiving a permit and taking the driving portion of the test to receive a CDL. ATA had asked that there be no required waiting period between the tests.

“If you’re ready to take this test to apply for the CDL, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do it immediately,” Stephenson said.

Most states require at least 14 days, said Karen Morton, program director, driver’s licenses at the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. AAMVA represents state motor vehicle administrations.

States would be allowed to set minimums above 14 days when the new rule takes effect.

Federal regulations currently require commercial drivers to have a knowledge of English necessary to communicate with law enforcement officers, which means states have been able to allow drivers to use language interpreters for the written test (7-21-08, p. 8).

“English is the language on all the signage on the road. It is the language enforcement officials use,” said Stephenson. “We support the administration of the test in English.”

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is the only state licensing agency that has opposed tougher English language requirements, which it did in comments filed with FMCSA in 2008. The department did not respond to a request for comment on the final rule.

ATA lauded the requirements to prove legal residency.

“That’s very helpful for hiring workers,” Stephenson said.

Most states already check for legal residency and verify Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration, a requirement under the new rule, Morton said.

FMCSA also will require all state commercial learner’s permit and CDL testing to align with AAMVA’s recommended testing methodologies. Only about half of all states currently meet that standard, Morton said.

“Within three years it would be reasonable to expect” states to comply, Morton said. Her organization has kept state agencies abreast of the upcoming rule since it was proposed.

Both AAMVA and ATA objected to FMCSA’s prohibition on “banking,” a practice some states allow in which drivers who fail certain portions of the CDL test only have to retake the portions they failed, getting credit for the parts they passed.

“It’s a customer-service issue,” said Morton. “If you schedule a complete test, you’re looking at least two hours. That means that every test you schedule, you’ve got to lump for a two-hour time slot.”

“We don’t see any real safety benefits in requiring drivers to retake sections they had already taken,” said Stephenson.

The new rule is “moving in the right direction in tightening up the process,” said Norita Taylor, spokeswoman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

Henry Jasny, senior counsel

for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, had no comment on the measure.

Stephen Keppler, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, said he had not reviewed the rule as of last week and had no comment.

The Teamsters union also had no comment, its spokesman said.

The Commercial Vehicle Training Association, an organization for trucking schools, did not respond to a request for comment.