In a sweeping crackdown on fraudulent commercial licensing, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy on Wednesday initiated the removal of more than 550 truck driving schools from the national registry.
The move follows an enforcement blitz involving 300 federal investigators who conducted more than 1,400 undercover sting operations across the country.
“We mobilized hundreds of investigators to visit these schools in person to ensure strict compliance with federal safety standards,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs. “If a school isn't using the right vehicles or if their instructors aren't qualified, they have no business training the next generation of truckers or school bus drivers.”
Over the course of five days, the FMCSA said it conducted 1,426 on-site investigations of driver training providers. These resulted in 448 notices of proposed removals issued to schools that failed to meet basic safety standards, and 109 training providers voluntarily removing themselves from the Training Provider Registry.
An additional 97 training providers remain under investigation for compliance issues, the USDOT said.
Investigators found that noncompliant schools, among other violations, used fake addresses, and failed to properly train drivers on the transportation of hazardous materials. One school removed for violating safety standards had previously provided training for school bus drivers.
Common violations included:
- Unqualified teachers: Instructors did not hold the correct licenses or permits—such as those required for school buses—for the vehicles they were teaching students to drive.
- Improper vehicles: Schools used vehicles that did not match the specific type of training being offered.
- Incomplete assessments: Providers failed to properly test students on basic safety requirements.
- State non-compliance: Schools admitted to investigators that they did not meet their own state’s specific regulatory requirements.
“For too long, the trucking industry has operated like the Wild West, where anything goes and nobody asks any questions. The buck stops with me,” said Secretary Duffy, adding that the Trump administration is “cracking down on every link in the trucking chain that has allowed this lawlessness to impact the safety of America’s roads.”
There were approximately 16,000 training providers listed on the FMCSA Training Provider Registry as of late last year, around the time Secretary Duffy launched his crackdown on CDL mills and other noncompliant Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) programs across the country. USDOT has removed more than 7,000 providers in less than three months.
