Truck Driver Safety – Driver Skills Testing

Anyone from the Beaumont area knows that I-10 can turn into a parking lot at any given moment.  When it does and traffic stops, it is much easier to see just how much 18-wheeler traffic flows through this area.  Commercial trucks have safety issues that are unique to the truck industry.  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the lead federal government agency responsible for regulating and providing safety oversight of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), such as 18-wheelers.  Its stated mission is to “reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses.” Their efforts play a significant role in reducing crashes throughout Texas and primarily in the Beaumont area where we have so much commercial hauling related to the petrochemical industry.

In order to fulfill its safety mission of protecting drivers from automobile accidents, the FMCSA develops and enforces regulations that balance safety and efficiency in the trucking industry.  These regulations are known as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR).  In them, you will find safety regulations about (1) driver qualifications, (2) truck and trailer inspections, (3) drive-time limits to reduce fatigue-related accidents, (4) required post-accident drug and alcohol testing, among other topics relevant to keeping our roads safe.

One way the FMCSA reduces accidents is through ensuring that commercial drivers have the specialized skills necessary to operate their trucks and trailers.  A CDL is a professional license that certifies drivers have been properly trained to operate these large vehicles safely.  A driver skills tests, commonly referred to as a “road test,” is used to gauge and confirm a driver’s skill level in real world situations.  Only after passing a road test is a driver certified to drive commercially.

Below is a summary of the minimum driving skills necessary to pass a road test:

1. Pre-trip and Post-trip Inspection
2. Starting the Vehicle
3. Offset and Straight-line Backing
4. Upshifting and Downshifting
5. Changing Lanes
6. Space Management
7. Mirror Scanning
8. Proper Space Management from Other Vehicles
9. Merging
10. Braking
11. Right-of-ways
12. Signaling
13. Turning
14. Intersections
15. Railroad Crossings
16. Curves
17. Parallel Parking
18. Stopping and Starting from the Roadside

FMCSR 391.31 governs road testing.  Motor carriers must ensure that the drivers they interview are competent behind the wheel before hiring them and turning them loose on the road.  If the prospective driver has a CDL that required successful completion of a skills test, the motor carrier may accept that in lieu of performing a road test.  If not, then the motor carrier must perform its own road test on the driver.  Their road test must be documented to show who performed it, the date it was performed, what was done, and if the driver passed.  Additionally, motor carriers must perform road tests if they intend to assign the driver to a vehicle using double or triple trailers (“doubles/triples”) or tank vehicle endorsement.  In those cases, the driver must pass a road test using a representative vehicle to prove that they can safely operate the kind of vehicle they will actually be driving.

These rules will not prevent every accident, and unfortunately, some drivers and motor carriers will not follow or enforce them.  We have handled many cases where motor carriers hired unqualified drivers.  Months after being hired, these unskilled drivers caused wrecks seriously injuring innocent people.  These unproven drivers never should have been allowed to drive in the first place.  Had motor carriers followed the road test rules, these accidents could have been avoided.

We are experienced personal injury attorneys who have worked on many cases in the Beaumont area and throughout Texas where we have linked driver qualification issues to preventable accidents.  These qualification violations are not always obvious, and they require having a legal team that is experienced in uncovering such things.  If you have been involved in an 18-wheeler wreck, a local, board-certified personal injury attorney review your case to see if hiring an unqualified driver played a part in your automobile wreck.