The federal government is moving forward with a plan to let teenagers drive big rigs from state to state in a test program.
Summary
- EMBED >More News Videos After more than 5 million people signed an online petition, the governor of Colorado has reduced the 110-year sentence for truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to just 10 years.
- They say it’s unwise to let teenage drivers be responsible for rigs that can weigh 80,000 pounds and cause catastrophic damage when they hit lighter vehicles.The apprenticeship pilot program was required by Congress as part of the infrastructure bill signed into law Nov. 15.
- It requires the FMCSA, which is part of the Transportation Department, to start the program within 60 days.The American Trucking Associations, a large industry trade group, supports the measure as a way to help with a shortage of drivers.
- “This program creates a rigorous safety training program, requiring an additional 400 hours of advanced safety training, in which participants are evaluated against specific performance benchmarks,” Geale said.
- He fears the industry will use skewed data from the program to push for teenage truckers nationwide.