In yesterday’s column, we discussed the means by which people, even citizens who are otherwise legal, have been obtaining commercial driver’s licenses by less-than-above-board means, thereby endangering us all. Today, we turn to the multiplier of that issue: the illegals using those methods to get their own license.
I call this part of the problem the multiplier, because the illegals bring added problems to the table. While many unqualified drivers who are citizens at least understand the language have had enough time in America to grasp common driving conventions, most of the illegals lack even those basics. In large part, they can’t read the road signs, and most of their driving experience is in other countries, where the conventions of driving are different enough to cause a lack of situational recognition in these drivers.
For example, drivers should know whether they are allowed to make a U-turn at a certain spot. (Of course, if you could read the road signs, you might not have felt the need to do that U-turn in the first place.) They also shouldn't be trying to drive under that (crash, scrape) bridge. Then there are even more straightforward matters like speed limits, weight limits, etc. When all those issues are combined, it's like turning over the keys to the Porsche to a 14-year-old. It's a sure bet the car and, likely as not, the kid and the people around him won't survive.
One thing I notice about this video below is the talking head (sorry, I don’t know his name) has a father, he says, who is a truck driver and yet even he apparently just barely understands the situation well enough to ask the right questions. No shame to him, as most folks who aren't professional truck drivers don't. Look, though, at the similarities in each of the cases shown here:
Here are a few more examples:
It sounds to me like in a couple of the cases in this second video, and the second video from yesterday's column, the drivers were either falling asleep or otherwise distracted. I would be interested in seeing their federally required electronic logs, because I'll bet, just from the feel of it, that they had been running outside of the hours of service mandates, on top of the rest of their issues. Zzzzzz.
So, why this sudden rise in such incidents? First, there is the non-existent "driver shortage." As the video above suggests, the main problem with getting drivers is the lifestyle that the job demands. There is also the low pay and the overabundance of regulations. Along came the Biden Administration, which added more regulations.
Overdrive examined these issues in a an article posted last June:
The Biden-Harris Trucking Action Plan doesn't outright invoke the "driver shortage" narrative preferred by big fleets and detested by much of small biz trucking, but from its first bullet point the plan makes clear an aim to ease access to CDLs and drivers.
The plan, released originally in December of 2021, as the nation crept out of the pandemic and rates were high and capacity tight, articulates as its first goal to "take steps to reduce barriers to drivers getting CDLs," according to the plan. "FMCSA will provide over $30 million in funding to help states expedite CDLs. Today, FMCSA is sending all 50 states a toolkit detailing specific actions they can take to expedite licensing and will work hand-in-hand with states to address challenges they are facing."
Fast-forward to 2025 as the trucking industry enters its third year of loose capacity, sunken rates, and even "driver shortage" boosters like the American Trucking Associations backing off the notion that the country needs more truck drivers. On top of that, a groundswell of truckers report a big uptick of drivers who can't speak English, various unsafe practices and fraudulent operations double brokering freight.
Domestic driver retention is a huge part of the so-called "driver shortage," as Overdrive suggests:
"We, the three minority associations, raised a question and challenged the driver shortage" narrative, he said. "There's no driver shortage. It's just made up. We have the problem that the big trucking companies are not taking care of their driver, and drivers leave the industry within the first year of their joining." Dhillon referenced big fleets with their own training programs, which might bring "100 people in, get funding for their schools and all kinds of things to do that, and out of those 100 people, within the first year 90 leave."
As Dhillon told the story, he and the other smaller associations "said in front of DOT and FMCSA and DOL and OSHA that this is going to be a crisis coming in. ... A person crossing the border with no experience or nothing gets a work permit in two months, and within one month gets their CDL. Well, they never even drove a car in this country, so why are we doing this?" he recalled telling Biden administration officials. "This is not even an issue for the trucking industry. This is a national security issue."
The issue of drivers lasting a year or less on average is a factor that, as a driver trainer, I've seen in my own experience. Drivers come in, clueless as to the kind of sacrifice the job requires even under near perfect conditions, and ultimately decide the life is not for them and leave.
I agree that even experienced drivers, who are completely legal and qualified, have accidents. The more miles you drive, the greater chance of eventually having an accident. The two are an inseparable fact of life on the highway, particularly in higher-density areas such as New York City (or anywhere on the East Coast and along I-5 on the opposite coast).
That said, it is unarguable that the issue of big rigs and fatalities spiked after Joe Biden became president, driven by his administration's policies on illegals.
Let me be clear: The issue of unqualified illegals driving big rigs was part and parcel of the Biden administration's attempt to flood the field with non-citizens in all areas of American life, not just trucking. It goes hand in hand with open borders, free healthcare for illegals (the cause of the current government shutdown), and more. The kinds of incidents I've described here are bound to happen with an influx of foreign drivers. It was bad enough with domestic drivers. Add the open southern border and the lowering of standards to accommodate those foreign drivers (fairness, you know) and you have what can only be described as a deadly mix.
Overdrive confirms this and points out that drivers understand thing more clearly than the Biden administration did:
According to recent Overdrive polling, 61% of responding truckers estimated that at least 15% of drivers on the road today can't meet the English-proficiency standards in regulation, and 75% doubt foreign citizens can operate safely or fairly on the road. Some survey respondents described a collapse in road safety and equipment maintenance, blaming it on fly-by-night operations that likely abuse foreign workers.
And in the process, this is limiting job opportunities, as well as pay and benefits, for citizens.
On a personal note, these incidents taint by association the citizens who are drivers, many of whom have been driving for decades and are quite professional. The public doesn't trust that big truck or its driver. Who knows what that driver's background or experience level is? And with the government bringing in foreign operators who clearly have no business behind the wheel of a big semi, who can blame them?
The Trump administration is doing what it can to remedy this situation (and bless them for that), but I fear it's going to be years before we are back in reasonably safe territory, and even longer before the reputation and trust in professional drivers is restored. Alas, by that time all the really good drivers will be gone: retired or simply giving up and becoming security guards or Walmart greeters. The cost of all this to our nation is very high. Too high.
The result of all of this is quite traceable in the number of older small companies, such as the one I worked for, going out of business. It used to be that the owner-operator — the one-truck operation with the guy who owned the truck and took pride in his or her work —was more prevalent. A regulatory nightmare and higher fuel costs are one thing. Add the lower per mile rates because of lesser quality drivers — and what company can survive that squeeze? Jobs are lost, and dreams die. It's to the point now where even the big guns are having problems staying afloat.
Meanwhile (and I cannot stress this enough), there is no escaping the conclusion that the Democrats, who have been pushing the policies that allowed this to happen, have blood on their hands.
