In this edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, Trucker Nation's Andrea Marks voices what she says might be "unpopular" opinions about some operators' views around the new Entry Level Driver Training regulations, in effect since early February. Marks, also involved in the small fleet operations of her parents' and husband’s small trucking companies pulling livestock from a Colorado home base, calls herself a "huge proponent" of the new training regs, and though much of the trucking world, including owner-operators, was with her there. Yet there’s at once a strong undercurrent of antipathy to the regs among some drivers and owner-operators –- of a couple of different flavors.

One argument says the training regs don’t go far enough. They don’t mandate on trainers and trainees a specific amount of behind the wheel instruction in the form of a number of hours to meet, for instance. Rather, the regs base assessment on proficiency, on a trainee’s ability to perform the tasks required. The regs do mandate that behind the wheel training be a part of any trainer/trainee’s curriculum, though the time required can vary by program or, necessarily, by student.

The second argument is something of the opposite -- that the new regs put too much formalization on a process that has traditionally been a more informal, learn-on-the-job apprenticeship type of training, particularly for many in the small-trucking community across the nation. Those who criticize the Entry Level training regimen this way worry that apprenticeships are on their way out the door, though regular listeners will recall the Overdrive Radio interview with Harry Smith of Ralph Smith Company of Utah, several weeks ago: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio/podcast/15287916/training-regs-might-miss-the-mark-but-some-are-doing-it-right

That small fleet fully intends to continue its own private, in-house apprenticeship training effort, very much of the sort of old-school variety, with new procedures in place to button up efforts to conform with the new rules.

At the same time, with a couple trainees in progress as of late January, the folks at Ralph Smith Co. were moving rather quickly with hopes of getting those trainees through the entire process before the early-February training rule deadline, after which the company would have to comply with numerous new reporting and documentation requirements, per the rule.

Avoiding added processes and paperwork is certainly understandable, but it also feels like a bit of acknowledgement that, hey, there are some aspects of the old-school apprenticeship training model that just don’t fit the new rule, at least not exactly, anyway.

In the push and pull over regulatory influence, Marks emphasizes, more engagement in regulatory processes, including comment-period participation, is needed to best to ensure influence on the evolution of trucking -- the training rule provides a case in point.

Read more on the rules via these links: https://www.overdriveonline.com/channel-19/article/15287602/fmcsas-entry-level-driver-training-rule-is-here-for-new-truckers