Editor’s Note: This article contains outdated content, but has been left up for anyone searching for this information. Check the Factor Finders blog section to find our more recent content.
While most are made nervous by teenagers merely driving small compact cars and SUV’s, Congress is debating letting them get behind the wheel of 80,000-pound big rigs.
Yes, as the trucking industry continues to struggle with a shortfall of nearly 50,000 drivers, the American Trucking Associations has been advocating relaxed age requirements for licensing interstate, commercial truck drivers.
Shortage of Truck Drivers
The trucking industry desperately needs to find a way to cope with the gigantic and ever-increasing shortage of drivers. It is predicted that in the next decade, trucking companies will have to make 890,000 hires in order to replace the massive wave of current drivers who are approaching retirement age (the average American truckers is 49, considerably older than the workforce’s overall average).
Currently, federal law prohibits men and women under the age of 21 to drive trucks across state lines. However, there is no law that prohibits teens from trucking within their own state, a detail which advocates for lowering the age are calling illogical. Does it make sense that a teenager can already drive a truck hundreds of miles, from one end of California to the other, but not the couple miles that it takes to get from Cincinnati to Kentucky?
Truck Driving Recruitment
But besides the inconsistent rule that allows intrastate, but not interstate, teen driving, trucking interest groups are complaining that the three-year wait time between high school graduation and trucking-eligibility causes potential drivers to find permanent work in other industries. According to the Wall Street Journal, a large proportion of long-haul driver candidates get snatched up by jobs in manufacturing, warehousing, retail, or construction when they are 18, and are rarely inclined to change careers when they turn 21. By recruiting drivers at a younger age and allowing them to drive across the country straight out of high school, the trucking industry thinks that the daunting driver shortage will begin to fade.
Opponents of teen truck driving, on the other hand, feel as if lowering the age would introduce a severe safety issue for the greater public. It is no secret that teen drivers are a statistically high-risk demographic behind the wheel. Granting them control of 40-ton machines naturally gives many people some hesitation.
Legislation in Congress
As highway legislation makes its way through Congress, the debate over teen truckers will continue to be tossed around within the industry. Teen drivers, while a safety hazard, could help trucking companies, big and small, take on new business projects. Looking for a way to grow your business in the mean time? Talk to Factor Finders and start using invoice factoring to maximize your profits and make your business take off. Factoring companies offer truck factoring fuel advances, fuel cards, and the best method of alternative financing in the business. Give us a call today at 855-393-2286.
