Detroit: The federal government moves forward with plans to let adolescents encourage large rigs from the state to the test state.
At present, truck drivers who cross the state line must be at least 21 years old, but an internship program required by Congress to help relieve the supply chain, deposits will make truck drivers 18 to 20 years of driving outside their state.
The pilot program, detail Thursday in the proposed regulation of the security administration of federal motorcycle carrier, will filter adolescents, restrictions with violations or traffic tickets that drive by driving.
But safety advocates say this program runs to data that shows that younger drivers enter more traffic jams than older ones.
They said it was not wise to let teenage drivers be responsible for rigs that could weigh 80,000 pounds and cause disaster damage when they reach lighter vehicles.
The internship pilot program was required by the Congress as part of the infrastructure bill signed to underd November 15.
This requires FMCSA, which is part of the Department of Transportation, to start the program within 60 days.
The American Trucking Associations, a large industrial trade group, supports size as a way to help with the lack of drivers.
The Group estimates that this country runs more than 80,000 drivers who lack the amount needed, because demand for moving transportation reaches historic highest.
Under internships, younger drivers can cross the lines of 120 hours and 280 hours of the experimental period, as long as experienced drivers are in the passenger seat.
Trucks used in the program must have an electronic braking accident mitigation system, video cameras facing forward, and the speed must be limited to 65 mph.
After the trial period, they can drive themselves, but companies must monitor their performance until they are 21.
No more than 3,000 internships can take part in training at certain times.
FMCSA must reach operators with excellent safety records to take part in this program, according to the Department of Transportation.
The program will run for three years, and motorcycle carrier agents must submit a report to the congress that analyzes the safety record of teenagers and makes recommendations about whether younger drivers of safe 21 or more.
Congress can expand programs with new laws.
This test is part of a broader set of steps from the administration of Biden to handle the lack of truck drivers and improve working conditions for truck drivers.
In a statement, Nick Geale, a vice president of labor safety for the truck association, recorded 49 states and Washington, DC, allowed the driver below 21 to move the semifi, but they could not take the burden throughout the line.
“This program creates a strict safety training program, requires an additional 400 hours of sophisticated safety training, where participants are evaluated against specific performance benchmarks,” Geale said.
This program will ensure that the industry has enough drivers to meet increasing shipping requests, he said.
But Peter Kurnock, a general advisor for advocates for highways & automatic safety, said federal data showed that younger drivers had a much higher level of accident than older ones.
“This is not surprising for Americans who drive a vehicle,” he said.
Putting them behind the truck wheel that can weigh up to 40 tons when loaded increase the chances of mass accidents, he said.
Kurdock said the truck industry had wanted younger drivers for years and used supply chain problems to get it into infrastructure bills.
He is worried that the industry will use data leaning from the program to encourage the driver of a national teen truck.