LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A national crackdown by the U.S. Department of Transportation has led to the closure of more than 500 commercial driver’s license training schools, which the department called “sham” operations.
The news, shared in February by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, has renewed attention on qualification errors and improper training in parts of the trucking industry.
According to the department, those violations include:
- Unqualified Teachers: Instructors did not even hold the correct licenses or permits—such as for school buses—for the vehicles they were teaching their students to drive.
- Improper Vehicles: Schools were using vehicles that didn’t match the type of training being offered.
- Incomplete Assessments: Providers failed to properly test students on basic requirements.
- State Non-Compliance: Schools admitted to investigators that they did not even meet their own state’s specific requirements.
Instructor Dale Clancy of the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Tech College said some operations function like “CDL mills,” offering minimal behind-the-wheel time before testing…