DOT issues $118 million in grants for truck safety, training
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Dec. 30 announced more than $118 million in grants to enhance commercial vehicle enforcement and provide training for military veterans entering the trucking industry.
The grants from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration direct resources to state and local agencies to reduce crashes.
“These grants are about giving our partners the tools they need to be effective,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs. “Whether it’s deploying smart technology to identify unsafe vehicles or auditing CDL programs to prevent fraud, every dollar is focused on raising the bar for safety and ensuring only qualified drivers and compliant vehicles are on our roads.”
The funding includes $71.6 million in high-priority grants to reduce commercial vehicle crashes, improve safety data, and run public awareness campaigns. It will also fund enforcement efforts targeting unsafe driving on high-risk crash corridors, initiatives to improve the secure movement of hazardous material, and the deployment of new technology to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
More than $40 million in additional grant funding will ensure that states’ CDL issuance processes are accurate and fraud-resistant. DOT also said $3.4 million in safety training grants will help current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families receive high-quality commercial driver training.
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First of all, I started driving a truck in 1971 when the industry was extremely safe in those days and I have been in the industry for around 50-60 years. Never received a ticket. No accidents of any kind for all of those years driving and back in those days. Drivers were courteous and one thing that contributes to our failure rate in this country today is that you see professional drivers supposed to be professional drivers beach shoes on. How could that possibly be safe? Driving with flip flops and very unprofessional looking and I don’t know how our politicians can be fighting for illegals in our country that can’t read our signs and we have seen that in the last few years accidents that one particular accident in Colorado when the drivers breaks were too hot and he lost braking power. He couldn’t read the runner. I the way signs so he failed to pull in and our politicians think this is okay and these truck driving schools. They’re not teaching these men and women anything. Most of them get out of these schools and they can’t even back up in a straight line. So how can you let someone out of a quote” truck driving school when they can’t back up when the job entails that you do a lot of backing to docs you back into parking spaces at the truck stops and you back out and these people aren’t doing pre-trips post trips or none of that stuff because this stuff that they’re finding unsafe they would find those items in a pre-trip and or post trip they’re not being taught.