FMCSA Upgraded Communication On New-Driver Training

[Admin]

The trucking industry's top safety regulator plans to increase its communications with state agencies and training schools before next year's compliance date for new entry-level driver training (ELDT) requirements.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it "plans to provide further guidance as the compliance date approaches."

The ELDT rule, which sets minimum standards for general knowledge and behind-the-wheel training, was scheduled to go into effect in February 2020 after an initial delay from 2017. But the FMCSA delayed the rule's compliance deadline by two years to give the agency more time to develop the rule's Training Provider Registry (TPR) and more time for state driver licensing agencies (SDLAs) to modify their IT systems to coordinate data with the TPR.

"This extension is necessary so that FMCSA can complete the IT infrastructure to support the TPR, which will allow training providers to self-certify, to request listing on the TPR and to upload the driver-specific ELDT completion information to the TPR," FMCSA stated in the final rule. "Completion of the TPR technology platform is also necessary before driver-specific ELDT completion information can be transmitted from the TPR to the SDLAs."