By Bruce Guthrie – February 19, 2026
Washington, D.C. — Organizations around the trucking industry are reacting to the news released late Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 18, 2026) that the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) announcing that more than 550 CDL training schools found in violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)’s standards of safety received notices of proposed removal from FMCSA’s national training provider registry.
Common violations included:
- 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.
The action has been met with applause and approval throughout the trucking and training industry.
“As an industry, we can never advocate for non-compliance of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, and the Entry Level Driver Training rules were developed as minimal standards for training institutions to abide by,” said Dave Heller, vice preside of safety and government affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA).