Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/490954
VOICES 12 | Overdrive | April 2015 As evidenced in recent polling of Overdrive readers, pre-CDL driv- er training often is conducted by professional haulers: Three-quarters of readers reported having trained a driver, many outside of a formal school setting. .MJZ]IZa¼[ÅZ[\UMM\QVOWN\PM committee working on negotiated rulemaking for entry-level driver training touched on traditional infor- mal (non-school setting) training. But it didn't, by and large, address the statutory language written in the MAP-21 highway bill relative to traditional approaches. The bill acknowledges such approaches in its inclusion of current trucking professionals among its examples of training providers. MAP-21, which directs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administra- tion to establish training standards, [XMKQÅKITTaKITT[W]\¹KTI[[ZWWU and behind-the-wheel training" as what it's after for pre-CDL training. ;QOVQÅKIV\TaQ\IT[WWٺMZ[[WUM\PQVO WNILMÅVQ\QWVWNIY]ITQÅML\ZIQVQVO XZW^QLMZ\WQVKT]LMVW\WVTa¹X]JTQK or private driving schools" but also a ¹UW\WZKIZZQMZWZW_VMZWZWXMZI\WZº of a truck. How such trainers might gain KMZ\QÅKI\QWV]VLMZ\PMM^MV\]ITZ]TM IVLPW_[]KPKMZ\QÅKI\QWV[UQOP\JM enforced remained open questions. Worry over how to preserve such ap- proaches was highlighted in conver- sations following the ELDT commit- \MM¼[ÅZ[\UMM\QVO.Q^MUWZMUMM\QVO[ were scheduled through May, with the committee hoping to conclude its work on a rule in June. Will traditional training survive rulemaking? Todd Dills Have you ever trained a pre-CDL driver? SOURCE: OverdriveOnline.com poll No 25% Many drivers, outside of a formal school process Only one to five drivers Many drivers, as part of a formal school 26% 31% 18% Delaware-based consultant and former small fleet owner Richard Wilson, among others, shares his experience with informal pre-CDL training in a podcast available via OverdriveOnline.com: Search "Entry Level Driver Training, podcast." Or scan the QR to stream it on your mobile device. Reader: Wrong solution for road funding I read your article in the February Overdrive with great interest. In fact, I had to read it twice because I could VW\JMTQM^M_PI\1ZMIL\PMÅZ[\ time! Index the federal motor fuels tax to QVÆI\QWV Really? I am assuming that your idea of QVLM`QVO\PM\I`\WQVÆI\QWVUMIV[\PI\ _PMVQVÆI\QWVOWM[LW_V\PM\I`OWM[ down as well. Unfortunately, once a tax is there, it's there for good. The only reason that we have QVÆI\QWVQ[JMKI][MOW^MZVUMV\[XMVL[ more money than government takes in. Instead of having a self-rising … err, adjusting tax, maybe we should do the following: 1) Stop allowing our government to waste our money! Stop allowing our representatives to give highway contracts to the friends and brothers- in-law of the people who sit on the boards that dish out the contracts. Hold them accountable for their actions. Make the construction companies do the work for what they originally say it will cost. 2) Use the money collected from highway taxes to go to bridges and roadways! No more paying for bike paths, monorail systems, pedestrian walkways and trolley systems. It would be nice to give those buy- ing gasoline and diesel a well-needed infusion of cash. Your idea will do none of that for the long term. It is about time that government stop picking the small business owner up by his feet and shaking him until the jingling of coins in his pocket is no longer heard. — Michael Dudley, Ryegate, Vt. Max Heine's Pulse column called for raising feder- al fuel taxes while fuel prices are extremely low to make up for the annual $15 billion shortfall in highway funding. The gap has grown due to fixed per-gallon rates that haven't changed since 1993.