Federal authorities are still skeptical that UPS (NYSE: UPS) can maintain safety standards if it is exempted from some aspects of new driver-training rules.
According to a judgment to be released Tuesday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied UPS’s request to waive a requirement that training instructors for its long-haul drivers have two years of experience driving a commercial truck for the second time.
The FMCSA also declined the company’s request to avoid having to register each of its training locations separately in a new driver-training database. The two provisions are part of the FMCSA’s Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) rule, which took effect on February 7.
In rejecting UPS’s first request, FMCSA ruled in December 2019 that the company had failed to demonstrate to the agency that it would “achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety that would be achieved absent the requested exemptions,” a statutory requirement for approving an exemption.
UPS attempted to remedy the issue in a petition for reconsideration submitted in July 2020, in which the firm emphasized the benefits of its own training program and detailed the difficulty it was having in hiring instructors who met the new ELDT criteria.
“We rapidly discovered that many of the applicants lacked fundamental safety abilities in vehicle operating as well as skills required to keep them injury-free,” UPS stated. “It was clear that the skill set was not linked with our level of acceptance, which has generated some of the industry’s safest drivers.”
However, after reviewing the amended petition as well as public comments, the FMCSA decided that UPS’s application “lacked data that would ensure that a comparable level of safety or greater would likely be reached [without the exemptions].”
Comments on the UPS exception have been divided.
Over 100 comments were received on both attempts at ELDT exemptions. The FMCSA noted that many of the people who supported UPS’s second application were drivers and current or past driver trainers.
“The majority of these commenters cited the excellence of the UPS driver training program and the overall corporate safety record,” FMCSA said. “They contended that UPS’s training program is one of the most extensive in the industry, that its driver trainers go through rigorous training and must adhere to strict techniques and procedures.”
However, the Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA) and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) also opposed the reconsideration, as they had done with the company’s initial request.
“We feel that standard application of the legislation for all training providers should be developed and followed by everyone training [student drivers],” said the CVTA. “We believe that granting the exemption would establish a dangerous precedent and open the floodgates for exemptions from other training providers.” Our concern is that the number of exclusions would overwhelm the [ELDT] rule.”
According to OOIDA, “too many” new drivers are entering the trucking industry without basic abilities.
“The ELDT rule establishes a procedure for holding training institutions and instructors accountable for their performance,” said Todd Spencer, President, and CEO of OOIDA. “Highway safety will surely increase if these rules are maintained and enforced.”
UPS has also asked the FMCSA for an exception to allow its driver trainees to run twin 28-foot trailers while merely possessing a commercial learner’s license. That application is still in the works.
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