Genesee Valley BOCES instructor weighs in on new CDL law - The Daily News Online
BATAVIA — A recently signed law that would allow people under age 21 to get a Class A commercial driver’s license (CDL) and drive within a state will help address driver shortages in the trucking industry, a Genesee Valley BOCES instructor said this week.
“On the professional side, I believe it is going to support it completely,” CDL Instructor Brian Keicher told The Daily News Wednesday. “The only thing is, I believe we’ve had such a deficit a lot longer, that we’re past that exhaustion point that we need every bit of help out there for the trucking industry. This didn’t just happen this last year or the last few years.”
According to a press release from state Sen. Patricia Ritchie, the American Trucking Association estimates a shortage of 80,000 truck drivers across the country right now, up 30% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ritchie introduced legislation in 2017 to establish a Class A CDL young adult licensing pilot program. New York is the last state to allow those under age 21 to get a Class A CDL for intrastate operation.
Keicher said people have been studying the trucking industry way before 2017.
“It was already popping its head up 15 years ago,” he said. “You’re seeing it in the school bus industry, with the fact of not being able to get drivers and keeping it up. There’s a lot of finger-pointing for reasons why, but the truth is, with population change ... The baby boomers, that was a large population. You’ve got to look at, where are they in retirement and where’s the next population of people coming into it (the trucking industry)?”
The new law provides for training closely mirroring the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s entry-level driver training requirements. It also requires a minimum of 300 hours of “behind-the-wheel training” under the supervision of an experienced driver, Ritchie’s press release stated.
With the law, Keicher said, there are a lot of variables that have to be looked at.
“One, it’s a federal law with the Federal Motor Carrier (Safety Administration) that anyone under 21 cannot be driving a truck fully loaded,” he said. “One thing is to get them (a student) behind the wheel and get, whoever the student is, 300 hours ... When you look at it, even any businesses that would want to participate in helping with this, you have to look at it, ‘What percentage of the time are they running empty?’ It’s not 50-50.”
Keicher said a CDL permit is only good for six months.
“My question is ... our 16-year-old drivers, are they going to have to complete that 300 hours prior to getting their CDL license. In doing that, are they going to run out of permit time?” he asked.
A student might be able to get a CDL, but not be able to drive a truck with a load in it.
“With the permit, you’ve got to be able to get 300 hours and get it done in less than six months,” he said.
Keicher said more than 200 students a year are put in the Genesee Valley BOCES Adult Education Program for a CDL. The program provides one-on-one instruction with Keicher and his team. Instruction takes place in the cab of the truck the program has.
The program has a 165-hour CDL Class A license training course at the Batavia Career and Technical Education Center, 8250 State Street Rd., which gives the experience necessary to be prepared to work in the trucking industry, the Genesee Valley BOCES website says. The program consists of up to 40 hours of one-to-one drive times, 26 hours of range/yard time and about 99 hours of classroom time. It includes shadowing experience and resume development. Upon completion of this program, students will have certification in defensive driving, forklift operation and air brake adjustment.
There is also a 36-hour CDL Class A license training program. It prepares students for the New York State CDL road test to earn a Class A license and drive tractor-trailers, dump trucks, and other vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds. Additional driving times may be purchased at $75 per hour. The Department of Motor Vehicles requires a Department of Transportation physical before the CDL written permit.
“There’s more time spent for Class A. There’s more hours needed,” Keicher said.
He said students choose whether they pursue Class A or Class B. Class B training prepares students for the state CDL road test to earn a Class B license and drive dump trucks and other vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds.
“There is a larger portion of A’s ... There’s a lot of A’s and B’s coming through,” Keicher said.
Keicher said he would like to think the new law will make a difference who are going into the Class A course at BOCES.
“This is too early to tell,” he said. “I do know that ... in the last two weeks, I’ve had several that were entering, looking for the B. They were 17, asking for information for when they turned 18. But, their interest is like, ‘Well, if we’re going through this, we’d really love to have been able to do A. That was when I talked to them about this law, if it went through. It depends on the hopeful.”
Regarding the law, Keicher said, “I think in the long term, it would have to help. Growing up on a farm myself, sometimes the best training is getting started younger, before you have all the rest of the peer pressure. Kids want to belong and they want to (participate).
“If they did have an opportunity, being 18 ... it would open up doors for them,” he said. “I couldn’t see why it wouldn’t attract them — opportunity. I think we see that at all the BOCES. They come in because it’s hands on.”
source: https://www.thedailynewsonline.com/top_story/genesee-valley-boces-instructor-weighs-in-on-new-cdl-law/article_d49a06a2-faf9-5c95-a7e5-170eaba4fc0a.html
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