From Our Print Edition

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is moving forward with a controversial plan to enroll up to 3,000 under-21-year-old drivers in a pilot apprenticeship program that will eventually allow them to haul freight across state lines. Current regulations for interstate commerce require drivers be at least 21.

Included in the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law late last year, the program is intended to help increase the eligible driver pool. It will also level the playing field for 18- to 20-year-old drivers in different states. Currently, explained American Trucking Associations president and CEO Chris Spear at a 2020 Senate hearing, a driver under 21 can drive hundreds of miles in California but one in Providence, R.I., can’t drive 10 miles across the border to Rehoboth, Mass. “That’s got to be the dumbest policy I’ve ever seen,” he said at the time.

The pilot program will last three years after which data collected during that span will be used to evaluate both the safety and effectiveness of allowing under-21 drivers to engage in interstate commerce.