Opinion ID: 186575
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Studying the Adequacy of Entry-Level Driver Training

Text: 17 As a first step toward implementing § 4007(a) of ISTEA, FMCSA's predecessor, FHWA, issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking. Training for All Entry Level Drivers of Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs), 58 Fed.Reg. 33,874 (announced June 21, 1993) (to be codified at 49 C.F.R. pt. 383). Noting the requirements of § 4007(a), FHWA solicited comments on the need to require training of all entry level drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Id. The agency further explained that it had contracted with an outside company to produce a study examining the effectiveness of private sector efforts to ensure adequate training of entry-level CMV drivers. Id. at 33,875. Information gleaned from this study would form the basis of the report to Congress mandated by ISTEA. To help assemble the necessary material, the agency invited interested parties to submit comments in response to a list of 13 questions addressing the state of entry-level driver training. Id. at 33,875-76. 18 In July 1995, after receiving over 100 responses to its request for comments, FHWA published its three-volume Adequacy Report, reprinted in J.A. 164. The Adequacy Report began by surveying the training levels among drivers of heavy trucks, motor coaches, and school buses. What it found was not encouraging: The conclusion of this study is that none of the three private sectors are effectively providing adequate training. 1 Adequacy Report at 2, J.A. 173. Specifically, the Adequacy Report found that the heavy truck sector has the smallest percentage of carriers offering adequate training (about 9 percent), while only 18.5 percent of motor coach carriers offered adequate training. Id. at 3-4, J.A. 174-75. The Report concluded that the present level of training adequacy is not likely to improve due to the actions of the private sectors themselves. Id. at 7, J.A. 178. Given widespread training failures across the industries it examined, the Report recommended that [i]f it is desirable to target fewer than all three domains, the heavy truck domain should be considered first priority, followed by motorcoaches. Id. at 12, J.A. 183. 19 The Adequacy Report also made extensive findings on the form that adequate entry-level training would take. With regard to heavy trucks, the Report stated, there is general agreement in the industry that the model tractor-trailer driver curriculum developed by the FHWA in the mid-1980s represents an adequate content and approach for training truck drivers. 3 Adequacy Report at 1-6, J.A. 209. Therefore, the model curriculum was the starting point in defining `adequate training' for heavy truck drivers. Id. Using the Model Curriculum as a baseline for analysis, the Report noted that [f]or a program to be considered `adequate' it must have on-street hours. Id. at B-5, J.A. 216. 20 The findings of the Adequacy Report were distilled into a Final Regulatory Evaluation, which FHWA transmitted to Congress in February 1996. The evaluation presented a cost-benefit analysis of mandating entry-level driver training in conformity with the Model Curriculum. On balance, the report found, mandatory training would be beneficial. In its analysis, the agency discounted the anomalous results produced by some earlier studies of driver training, which had suggested that training might increase accident rates. Such counterintuitive findings, the agency determined, likely reflected the pervasiveness of training programs that were not adequate. Final Regulatory Evaluation: Entry-Level Driver Training at 15-17 (May 1995), reprinted in J.A. 241-43. Adjusting for shoddy training programs made the benefits of good training clear. Based on the information presented from case studies, a reduction in accidents is possible when training is well designed. Accident reductions in the 10 to 15 percent range are not unrealistic. Id. at 20, J.A. 246. Economically, mandating training along the lines described in the Model Curriculum would yield substantial projected benefits. Against a cost of between $4.19 billion and $4.51 billion over 10 years, mandatory training was expected to generate a benefit in the range of $5.4 billion to $15.27 billion during the same period. Id. at 32-36, J.A. 258-62. 21 In April 1996, FHWA published a notice in which it solicited comments on the Adequacy Report and the Final Regulatory Evaluation. Training of Entry-Level Drivers of Commercial Motor Vehicles, 61 Fed.Reg. 18,355 (Apr. 25, 1996) (notice of availability and request for comments). In response, the agency received 48 additional comments. On November 13, 1996, the agency held a public meeting on the issue, which 26 individuals attended. After the meeting, however, the agency's activities pursuant to § 4007(a) came to a halt. Nothing in the record explains this hiatus, but for six years the agency initiated no further action. Indeed, it took litigation by concerned private parties to nudge the agency out of its slumber. In November 2002, those parties petitioned this court for a writ of mandamus ordering the Secretary of Transportation to fulfill his ISTEA duties. In re Citizens for Reliable & Safe Highways, No. 02-1363 (D.C.Cir.Nov. 26, 2002). The matter was settled, and DOT agreed to publish a final rule implementing entry-level training requirements no later than May 31, 2004. Id.