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Dive Brief:
- Commercial drivers age 18 through 20 in the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program can continue with an under-21 exemption even though the program ended Nov. 7, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in an email.
- The program paired experienced drivers with those traditionally not allowed to drive interstate CVs, and it will allow current participants to maintain the exemption until they age out, an FMCSA official told Trucking Dive in an email.
- “[T]hose drivers who were enrolled in the SDAP program and completed their training requirements but were not yet 21 at the end of the pilot, were offered an exemption extension to cover them until they turn 21,” the official said, noting letters were sent prior to Aug. 31.
Dive Insight:
The government has until early March to deliver a report to Congress about the safety of the program, according to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which launched the apprenticeship program.
The report will cover issues such as assessments about technologies or training that carriers provided to apprentices, how those drivers compared to traditional operators, safety records of participants, and recommendations about how safe under-21 drivers are compared to those age 21 or older.
While the American Trucking Associations wants to extend the program for five years, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association seeks another pathway that limits driving for under-21 drivers to 150 air miles from their main work site.
