Legislation from Nebraska Senator looks to lower federal age limits for truck drivers

It is hard to argue that one of the biggest, if not the single biggest, issue in the freight transportation sector is the truck driver shortage.

As reported many times on this site and in the pages of Logistics Management, there are many reasons for this ongoing predicament.  Even with an increased onus on augmenting driver training, retention, and compensation packages, many carriers are still struggling with how to fill the empty seats. The ongoing driver shortage still serves as a major factor for tight over the road capacity, which has been burdensome for shippers in that they need to pay higher rates in order to get their freight moved in a timely and efficient manner.

What’s more, many industry stakeholders say that the lack of available––and willing––drivers will only get worse in the coming years, with the average age of drivers still firmly entrenched around 50.

For those still not sold on how serious the current situation is, consider this: the American Trucking Associations (ATA) has said it estimates the current driver shortage is in the 35,000-to-40,000 range, and with a combination of retirements and people exiting the industry, carriers need to recruit in roughly 100,000 drivers per year over the next decade to simply keep pace with projected United States freight needs.

With such a dire situation, based on these numbers of industry dynamics, the ATA last week praised Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) for her bill that takes some positive steps towards alleviating the current environment.

The most significant and obvious step the bill, entitled The Commercial Driver Act, takes to get more drivers into the trucking sector is by lowering the age commercial drivers can operate across state lines.

ATA President and CEO commended Fischer on this bill and its objectives in a statement issued late last week.

“In each of the continental United States, a person can get a commercial driver’s license and drive a truck at the age of 18, but federal law prevents them from driving across state lines until they reach the age of 21,” said Graves. “It is illogical that a 20-year-old can drive the 500 miles from San Francisco to San Diego, but not the eight miles from Memphis, Tennessee to West Memphis, Arkansas – or simply cross the street in Texarkana. Even more illogical is that a 20-year-old may not drive a truck in any state if the cargo in it originated outside the state or will eventually leave the state by some other means.”

Fischer’s bill will launch a pilot study dedicated to lowering the federal driver age, coupled with other efforts to create driver openings for high school graduates, whose overall unemployment rates are up to triple the national average, according to ATA.

At a time when the lack of available and willing drivers becomes more and more apparent by the day, more is needed to get seats filled. While it is far to early to know or tell is this bill will get across the finish line and meet its stated goals, it at least shows and demonstrates that some people in the Nation’s Capital are paying attention and realize it is a problem that is not going away.