On February 7th, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will be enacting new Entry-Level Driving Training regulations. These regulations aim to standardize commercial driver training (CDLT) practices and will affect trainers and new commercial learner’s permit applicants.
Training providers will have to register with the FMCSA via a login.gov account. In order to successfully register, providers must verify their compliance with curricula, instructor, facility, licensing, and vehicle regulations.
Prospective commercial drivers who obtain their learners permits on or after February 7th, 2022, will not have a required minimum number of instruction hours. Rather, CDL applicants must complete all of the of training curriculum with a registered training provider, regardless of how long it takes, before undergoing their commercial driver’s license test. Any certifications, learning permits, and training executed before February 7th, 2022, will still be valid and will not be affected by these new regulations, so current registered drivers will most likely notice very little change.
To learn more about these regulations and who they cover, visit the FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry page at https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/.
To find a visual breakdown of these changes, refer to this handy fact sheet from the American Trucking Association and this presentation from the FMCSA.