How did an untrained driver who cannot read a road sign end up behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck? Shannon Everett of American Truckers United walks guest host Robert McNeily through the three changes that made it possible. In 2019 the federal guidance was changed so a driver holding only an employment authorization card could apply for a commercial driver's license. At the same time, CDL schools were allowed to certify themselves, so a license could be bought with little or no training. And the electronic logging devices that were supposed to monitor hours on the road were allowed to self-certify too, built by manufacturers in Serbia, India, or China with no oversight. The Secretary of Transportation has called the result the Wild West of trucking.
Everett describes what that looks like on the interstate: drivers working as indentured servants, 20 hours a day, falling asleep at the wheel and running into stalled traffic at highway speed. Then the money. Delilah's crash involved a freight broker, and for years brokers argued a federal statute shielded them from responsibility for the carriers they chose. In May the Supreme Court unanimously agreed with American Truckers United's amicus brief and ended that defense. No generational, family-owned trucking company hires these drivers, Everett says; the brokers who thought they had immunity did. The cheap labor was never cheap. It cost lives instead of dollars.
In this clip:
• English proficiency and the self-certified CDL schools
• Self-certified e-logs from Serbia, India, and China
• 20-hour days and an 80,000-pound truck into stalled traffic
• Delilah's crash and the freight-broker immunity claim
• The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in May
• A war inside the trucking industry over cheap labor
Read H.R. 5688, Delilah's Law, and call 202-224-3121 to ask your representative when it gets a floor vote. Watch the full episode at jennybethshow.com and learn more at teapartypatriots.org.
00:00 — English proficiency and the self-certified CDL schools
00:39 — Self-certified e-logs from Serbia, India, and China
01:01 — The Wild West of trucking: bought licenses, no oversight
01:38 — 20-hour days and an 80,000-pound truck into stalled traffic
02:08 — Brokers, cash deals, and middlemen with no accountability
02:49 — Delilah's crash and the freight-broker immunity claim
03:09 — The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling
04:12 — Legacy carriers do not hire these drivers; brokers do
04:52 — A war inside the trucking industry
05:19 — Cheap labor that costs lives
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