Trump administration orders closure of over 500 commercial driver schools in the US

Los Angeles (USA). – More than 550 schools to train truck and bus drivers will have to close their operations in USA., after federal authorities found that they did not comply with basic safety standards and their instructors were not qualified, the Department of Transportation (DOT, in English) reported this Wednesday. Schools received notifications informing them that they would be removed from the national registry of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which would force them to close.

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Federal authorities conducted more than 1,400 undercover operations in the 50 states to detect security problems in these institutions. The DOT indicated in a statement that the sanctioned schools lacked qualified instructors, used false addresses, and did not adequately train drivers in the transportation of hazardous materials, among other violations. Instructors who did not even have the corresponding licenses or permits (such as those for school buses) for the vehicles they were teaching their students to drive were also detected. In addition, the sanctioned schools used vehicles that did not match the type of training offered. It was also found that institutions did not adequately assess students on basic requirements. Some schools admitted that they did not even meet the specific requirements of their own state.

“For too long, the trucking industry has operated like the Wild West, where anything goes and nobody asks questions,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy in a statement.

The secretary said his department is taking “strong measures” against every link in the transportation chain that has allowed this “illegality” to affect the road safety of the United States. The closure of schools is part of the campaign of the American president, Donald Trump, to reinforce road safety. Last year, the president signed an executive order to ensure that the country’s truckers can speak English for the sake of “public safety.” The decree requires the DOT to include an English test for those drivers.