WASHINGTON — Truckload carrier Covenant Logistics is seeking a two-year federal exemption to streamline the process for employing 2,000 new drivers, the company told regulators.
Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Covenant (NASDAQ: CVLG), along with its logistics affiliate Landair Transport Inc., has petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to allow commercial learner’s permit (CLP) holders who have passed a CDL skills test to drive a truck without an on-duty CDL holder present in the front passenger seat, as is currently required.
According to an FMCSA notice published Wednesday, Covenant currently cannot employ a new driver until the driver’s home state issues a CDL. The company must therefore either wait for the driver to obtain the physical CDL credential from the state or send the driver home.
“Covenant Logistics states this results in supply chain inefficiency and a lost employment opportunity for the new driver,” according to the notice.
“States may take weeks to properly document and update the status of a new driver’s CDL after they have passed the CDL skills test, and Covenant Logistics is not able to employ the driver during this time without having a second driver in the front seat of the [truck]. This administrative waiting period has caused a significant burden on Covenant Logistics’ operations.”
Covenant explained that prior to the implementation of the front-seat requirement for experienced drivers who oversee new permit holders, states routinely issued temporary CDLs, valid only in drivers’ home states, to drivers who had successfully passed a CDL skills test.
“This process made it possible for the company to immediately designate a new driver as on duty, and direct that driver to their home state without entering a second driver into an on-duty status,” the company states in the notice.
If granted the exemption, Covenant would join several other large trucking companies, including CRST and Wilson Logistics, in securing licensing flexibility from regulators.
CRST, which was originally given an exemption in 2016, has successfully renewed it by showing that safety has not been compromised with the eased restrictions.
Such exemptions may not be necessary in the future if FMCSA moves forward with a pending rulemaking.
The proposed rule, “Increased Flexibility for Testing and for Drivers after Passing the Skills Test,” would loosen current CDL testing regulations by:
- Allowing CLP holders who have passed the CDL skills test to operate a truck without having a CDL holder in the passenger seat.
- Expanding CDL applicants’ ability to take a skills test in a state other than the state in which they live.
- Eliminating the requirement that an applicant wait at least 14 days after being issued a CLP to take the CDL skills test.
The changes are opposed, however, by some owner-operators and by truck safety advocates who warn that rolling back driver testing regulations will lead to more crashes.
Steve Marum
Moral of the story. New drivers are given a week to get permit. A week to learn to drive and back tractor trailer up. Only good enough to pass skills test. Then these companies say they are trained by an experienced driver.
But, the reality is. You get your cdl and you’re thrown in the driver seat. It’s sink or swim. These companies immediately run u as a team. The so called experienced driver is asleep while new driver is operating because you are run as a team.
Stephen
I also think we should revamp the elds to include in traffic jams for hours and hours to not take away from our drive times too
Stephen Webster
Well said in Canada we have over 10 000 experience truck drivers out of work or doing other jobs as the large trucking companies would sooner hire a foreign new driver at $20 CD than a experience truck drivers at $32 CD plus medical
Glen
No, it will be unsafe. Im a 37yr vet. We had to go through rigorous training and schooling. The roads were safer back then because of it.
Tammy
We don’t need more new drivers anyway. There are too many already. If you have a guy who passed his CDL test it doesn’t mean he’s ready to drive by himself. People need that experienced driver in the front seat to train the new guy. Safety for everyone on the road should be their first priority
Forrest Franks
That’s 100% unadulterated B.S. That should NEVER BE GRANTED!!!! EVER……
Scumbags are trying to use unqualified drivers. Until they have that CDL NO DRIVERS should be on their own. If they can’t find qualified drivers. It means they Suck…..
They are just trying to take advantage of these people’s lack of knowledge at the expense of the public.
Gayl Russell
This is absurd! Let’s turn more incompetent drivers loose on the roads! We all had to learn but we had to do so with an experienced driver. And I don’t mean one with 2 years and 200,000 miles experience either! The drivers we went with had millions of miles! Now the idiots making these rules wonder why there are so many more accidents on the highways…..NO, NO and NO! No student drivers, rookies we called them back in the day, without a fully licensed and experienced driver. PERIOD!
Chris
Well this is stupid…
There are qualified candidates out there that are licensed… Why do they choose not to drive PAY GRADE. Also what about yellow freight drivers 30,000 or so..
As a qualified driver in the passenger seat their job is to see what the rookies don’t see we see as we sit in that passenger seat, not only to ensure that that new driver is being safe it is to ensure that the truck is being operated correctly this includes cornering left and right, backing up Blind Side and sight side, ensuring HOS are adhered to and done correctly.
I would gladly step into that passenger seat and Mentor new drivers but it comes down to one simple thing wages and pay rate. If a company was to offer me $5,800 take home per month I would gladly sit in that passenger seat to ensure that new drivers are getting the best that I can give and I guarantee that after 2 weeks that new driver would pass any skills test road test in any state Province or territory in North America they would also know how to chain a truck up they would also know how to slide fifth wheels and trailer axles I would teach them everything that I know everything I was taught but companies want to take the easy route by putting unsafe untrained new drivers on the road with a loophole which make our roads unsafe for other drivers
Maybe Covenant should contact me I could put a team of trainers together to ensure safer roads and drivers