Case Study of Mexico's Third-Party Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) Program for Commercial Vehicle Operators

The objective of this project was to document lessons learned for assisting the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in the development of an entry-level driver training (ELDT) program in the United States using a third-party system. Effective October 1, 2012, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), in Section 32304, Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Training, mandated that FMCSA issue a final rule on ELDT programs and that it cover all commercial driver’s license (CDL) drivers. FMCSA is separately gathering research information on the effectiveness of different types and amounts of ELDT. The proposed process in the 2007 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for delivering ELDT is via third-party schools. There is information available from Mexico’s implementation of a third-party process for training commercial drivers. The United States’ acceptance of a Mexican Licencia Federal (LF) dates back to November 21, 1991, when the Office of Motor Carrier Safety in the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Dirección General de Autotransporte Federal (DGAF) in the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) determined mutually that Mexican CDLs are comparable to U.S. CDLs and entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing the comparability. FMCSA is in the process of updating this MOU by revisiting the numerous revisions that have occurred in the CDL programs of both countries. Since the execution of that MOU, the Mexican program has changed the licensing program from a federally staffed operation to a private third-party school operation. This project involved conducting a literature review of ELDT methods and analyzing Mexico’s experience using a third-party approach for ELDT programs to document lessons learned. A final report containing documentation of the Mexican experience and results from development and implementation of an ELDT program using a third-party approach is pending publication.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Milestones: September 2014: Project award; November 2014: Kick-off meeting; September 2015: Draft final report.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $125,216
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Walker, Martin

• Performing Organizations:

  Maineway Services

  10 Tamarack Drive
  Fryeburg, ME  United States  04037
• Start Date: 20140900
• Expected Completion Date: 20150929
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commercial vehicle operations; Driver training; Recently qualified drivers; Training programs; Truck drivers
• Identifier Terms: Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21)
• Geographic Terms: Mexico
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Motor Carriers;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01592550
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
• Files: RIP, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 2 2016 12:09PM