Thousands of truck drivers are hitting U.S. highways without proper training
The trucking industry is the beating heart of the American economy, but lately, that heart has started to skip dangerous beats. Every year, around 100,000 truck crashes occur on U.S. highways, killing nearly 5,000 people. That’s the equivalent of a small town being wiped out every single year just from truck accidents. Yet, this growing safety crisis has largely flown under the public’s radar.
At the center of it all lies a quiet but devastating change in how commercial truck drivers are trained and licensed. In February 2022, a new federal rule was supposed to modernize the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) process. Instead, it’s opened the door for a flood of undertrained drivers. These are products of so-called “CDL mills”. To hit the road behind the wheels of 40-ton vehicles. It’s like handing someone the keys to a jet after watching a few YouTube videos about flying.
What changed in 2022?
Before 2022, becoming a truck driver required intensive, state-supervised instruction. Trainees logged dozens of hours in classrooms and behind the wheel under licensed instructors who understood safety and compliance. It wasn’t easy. That was the point.
But when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rolled out a new Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) rule, things shifted. The agency created a self-certification database that allowed anyone (literally anyone) to register as a CDL trainer at the federal level. There’s no requirement to prove credentials, verify experience, or even maintain state licensing.
That change created two parallel paths for aspiring truck drivers:
- The traditional route, through one of about 2,100 accredited CDL schools offering 160 hours of hands-on instruction.
- The deregulated route, through more than 32,000 self-certified trainers, many of whom provide only minimal training before sending drivers to take their CDL tests.
“CDL mills” are flooding the Trucking industry
The term “CDL mill” has become shorthand for operations that churn out new drivers with little to no meaningful instruction. These outfits exist primarily to collect fees and push people through the system as quickly as possible.
Steve Gold, founder of 160 Driving Academy, one of the country’s largest legitimate CDL training programs, puts it bluntly:
“The feds came in, created this self-certification database, and now you can register to be a CDL trainer at the federal level. Employers are exempt from state licensing. So there are 32,000 registered training providers — and you don’t have to do a damn thing to prove you’re qualified.”
That lack of oversight is astonishing. In some cases, “trainers” provide only a few hours of orientation. Others simply direct students to online videos before sending them to a DMV to take their road test. It’s a system designed for speed, not skill. When you’re talking about 80,000-pound vehicles barreling down crowded highways, that’s a recipe for disaster.
How bad has the safety fallout been?
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 153,472 truck crashes were reported in 2023, leading to 5,472 fatalities, which is a 40% increase from 2014. Those fatality levels continued into 2024, which marks one of the deadliest decades in modern trucking history.
To put it in perspective, your odds of dying in a commercial truck crash are about 20 times greater than dying in a plane crash. However, pilots undergo thousands of hours of monitored, standardized training. Many truck drivers today don’t.
One tragic example unfolded in Fort Pierce, Florida, where a driver who couldn’t speak or read English somehow obtained a CDL. He later caused a crash that killed a family of three. That horrific event isn’t an isolated case; it’s a symptom of a broken system that lets unqualified drivers slip through the cracks.
When 160 Driving Academy tested seasoned commercial drivers for major carriers, half failed basic proficiency exams. These drivers, rejected by large safety-conscious companies, often found work with smaller carriers that lack the resources or motivation to enforce strict training standards.
Why did regulators loosen the rules in the first place?
For years, the trucking industry has warned of a driver shortage. They claimed that strict licensing standards make it too hard to recruit new drivers. In response, federal regulators eased restrictions, hoping to get more people behind the wheel faster.
But that strategy backfired. Flooding the market with poorly trained drivers hasn’t solved the shortage. It has only made the roads more dangerous while driving down industry wages. Experienced truckers are leaving the field, frustrated by unsafe conditions and undercut rates.
Meanwhile, some carriers and training companies profit from the deregulation, advertising “quick and easy” CDL programs that emphasize speed over safety. It’s a business model built on volume, not value.
What can be done to make America's roads safer?
Fixing this problem isn’t complicated; it just requires the will to act. Steve Gold has proposed straightforward reforms, including:
- Requiring all CDL training providers to show proof of state licensing before being added to the federal registry.
- Conducting random audits and on-site inspections of training facilities.
- Imposing penalties for false certification or substandard instruction.
- Encouraging states to maintain or strengthen their own training standards rather than defer to federal minimalism.
Injured in a Crash With a Big Truck? Call McDaniel Law Firm.
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