US to allow teens to drive semi-trucks in test apprenticeship program

FILE - Tractor-trailer trucks carrying goods along I-74 during the COVID-19 pandemic on May 4, 2020, in Veedersburg, Indiana. (Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) DETROIT - The federal government is moving forward with a plan to let teenagers drive big rigs from state to state in a test program.Currently, truckers who cross state lines must be at least 21 years old, but an apprenticeship program required by Congress to help ease supply chain backlogs would let 18-to-20-year-old truckers drive outside their home states.The pilot program, detailed Thursday in a proposed regulation from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, would screen the teens, barring any with driving-while-impaired violations or traffic tickets for causing a crash.But safety advocates say the program runs counter to data showing that younger drivers get in more crashes than older ones.

They say it's unwise to let teenage drivers be responsible for rigs that can weigh 80,000 pounds and cause catastrophic damage when they hit lighter vehicles.The apprenticeship pilot program was required by Congress as part of the infrastructure bill signed into law on Nov.

15. It requires the FMCSA, which is part of the Transportation Department, to start the program within 60 days.The American Trucking Associations, a large industry trade group, supports the measure as a way to help with a shortage of drivers.

The group estimates that the nation is running over 80,000 drivers short of the number it needs, as demand to move freight reaches historic highs.Under the apprenticeship, younger drivers can cross state lines during 120-hour and 280-hour probationary periods, as long as an experienced driver is in the passenger seat.