Oct. 1 – Although the federal commercial driver’s license system was supposed to end the problems of duplicate licenses and truckers on the road with multiple traffic convictions, there have been some problems. To combat this, the Federal Highway Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have awarded $1.2 million to nine states for a new Driver History pilot project.
States will use the money to design, evaluate and upgrade automated systems for recording traffic convictions and exchanging driver safety information among courts, police and licensing agencies.
The recently enacted Transportation Equity act for the 21st Century authorized the project’s funding for fiscal year 1998 and subsequent years. Washington, California, Montana, Texas, New York, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico were selected for the grants.