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Amid a shortage of truck drivers nationwide, new federal guidelines are kicking in for aspiring drivers.
“These next five to six months, there will be a bottleneck,” said Andrea Hanley, executive vice president of The CDL School’s training and education division of the TransForce Group.
As of Monday, drivers seeking their Class A or B commercial driver’s license for the first time are required to complete a new, federally mandated training program.
What You Need To Know
- Aspiring truck drivers are subject to a new federally mandated training program
- Most training schools are already providing such programs, but private businesses offering in-house training will be impacted
- The nation is short about 100,000 drivers
“That will apply to both theory, classroom teaching as well as behind-the-wheel vehicle instruction,” Hanley said.
The new guidelines are something The CDL School in Menands has prepared for over years. But the same can’t be said for private companies providing in-house training.
“For training schools like us and around the country, this should be the norm of what we have been delivering,” Hanley said.
Folks at the school are taking it in stride, but others are more critical.
“It could cost upward of $10,000,” Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Merola is calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to step in.
“She talks. She’s got access to Washington,” he said. “If anything, hold off this program for a year.”
Drivers looking to upgrade their CDL or a school bus, passenger or hazardous materials endorsement will also be subject to the new guidelines.
“If we got four or five drivers last month, I can guarantee we’re not going to get any this month,” he said. “That’s over.”
Regardless of the impacts, work to get more drivers behind the wheel continues at The CDL School.
“In less than 30 days, they’ll be able to enter jobs where they know they’ll be secure, they know there will be opportunities to move up and also earn a really good pay check,” Hanley said.
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