FMCSA Opens Under-21 Apprenticeship Pilot to Carrier Applications

In July 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) began taking applications from motor carriers for its Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program (SDAP), the pilot that lets some 18-, 19- and 20-year-old commercial driver's license (CDL) holders drive in interstate commerce. FMCSA held an information session on the program on July 25, 2022, and its SDAP page, updated on July 26, 2022, told companies that applications were being accepted.

Where the program came from

Section 23022 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, required FMCSA to set up an apprenticeship pilot for drivers aged 18 to 20 who hold an intrastate CDL. FMCSA established the program in a Federal Register notice published on January 14, 2022. The pilot was set to last up to three years.

Under the law, no more than 3,000 apprentices could take part at any one time. For its paperwork estimates, FMCSA assumed a maximum of 1,000 participating motor carriers.

The program's core structure, set out in the law and the notice, consisted of two probationary periods of 120 and 280 hours with an experienced driver in the passenger seat, in trucks with specific safety technology and a governed speed of 65 mph.

How carriers qualified

Drivers could not apply directly. Instead, carriers applied first, and FMCSA said it would publicly list approved carriers on its website so that would-be apprentices could apply through them.

To qualify, a carrier had to:

• have proper operating authority, if required, and registration;
• carry at least the minimum required levels of financial responsibility;
• not be a high- or moderate-risk carrier under FMCSA's 2016 definition;
• not have a conditional or unsatisfactory safety rating;
• not have had open enforcement actions, such as imminent hazard or out-of-service orders, in the previous six years; and
• not have a crash rate, driver out-of-service rate or vehicle out-of-service rate above the national average.

Approved carriers also had to register an apprenticeship program with the U.S. Department of Labor and agree to submit data every month. FMCSA said it could remove carriers that slipped below the standards, for example by having driver or vehicle out-of-service rates above the national average for three consecutive months, or by failing to report data.

Rules for apprentices

The notice barred anyone from serving as an apprentice who, in the two years before being hired, had held more than one license (other than a military license), had a license suspended or revoked for certain disqualifying offenses, or had been convicted of offenses such as driving under the influence or leaving the scene of a crash.

While in the program, an apprentice could not haul passengers or hazardous materials, or drive double- or triple-trailer combinations or cargo tank vehicles, whatever endorsements the driver held. After finishing both probationary periods, an apprentice could drive interstate alone but stayed in the program, with monthly safety reporting, until turning 21.

A driver who turned 21 during the pilot was no longer considered an apprentice. An apprentice who left an approved carrier lost approval to drive interstate unless rehired by another participating carrier.

How FMCSA planned to judge it

FMCSA said it would compare apprentices' safety performance with that of intrastate and interstate drivers, using monthly carrier data alongside its own systems, including the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of July 2022. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.