The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration continues its efforts to make sure commercial drivers are getting the training they need, announcing that an investigation found more than 550 “sham” CDL training schools.

More than 550 CDL training schools received notices of proposed removal from FMCSA’s national training provider registry, according to a news release.

More than 300 investigators across 50 states conducted more than 1,400 investigations that the agency characterized as sting operations.

Noncompliant schools lacked qualified instructors, used fake addresses, and failed to properly train drivers on the transportation of hazardous materials, among other violations.

FMCSA Continues Cleanup of CDL Training Provider Registry

Late last year, FMCSA announced that nearly 3,000 commercial driver’s license training providers had been removed from the Training Provider Registry, with another 4,000 training providers placed on notice due to potential noncompliance.

Many of those schools appeared to have already been idle. This latest initiative went after active operations.

Over the course of five days, the FMCSA conducted 1,426 on-site investigations of driver training providers, which resulted in: 

• 448 notices of proposed removals issued to schools that failed to meet basic safety standards.
• 109 training providers voluntarily removed themselves from the Training Provider Registry upon hearing investigators were on the way. 

An additional 97 training providers remain under investigation for compliance issues.

Unqualified Instructors and Improper Vehicles Raise Safety Concerns

Common violations included: 

• Unqualified Teachers: Instructors did not even hold the correct licenses or permits — such as for school buses — for the vehicles they were teaching their students to drive. 
• Improper Vehicles: Schools were using vehicles that didn’t match the type of training being offered.
• Incomplete Assessments: Providers failed to properly test students on basic requirements.
• State Non-Compliance: Schools admitted to investigators that they did not even meet their own state’s specific requirements. 

“We mobilized hundreds of investigators to visit these schools in person to ensure strict compliance with federal safety standards,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs. “If a school isn't using the right vehicles or if their instructors aren't qualified, they have no business training the next generation of truckers or school bus drivers.” 

OOIDA Applauds FMCSA Action Against ‘CDL Mills’

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association praised the move.

“For years, CDL mills have fueled a destructive churn driven by the false narrative of a nationwide truck driver shortage,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer in a statement.

“Rather than fix retention problems and working conditions, some in the industry chose to cut corners and push undertrained drivers onto the road. That approach has undermined safety and devalued the entire trucking profession.”

The Problem With the Entry-Level Driver Training Rule

The Entry Level Driver Training (ELDT) regulations were finalized in 2016 and went into effect in 2022, after years of back-and-forth between the FMCSA and the courts. 

In simple terms, the ELDT rule set new federal minimum standards for CDL training schools, including those operated by motor carriers, as Heavy Duty Trucking reported in 2023.

Critics at the time complained that the rules had been watered down. As we reported in 2016, the final rule required no behind-the-wheel training standard for student drivers.

The American Transportation Research Institute is studying the question of how effective the new rules have been.