Federal transportation officials are ordering the closure of over 550 commercial driving schools nationwide after discovering serious safety violations that put the public at risk, according to an announcement made Wednesday.
The schools, which train future truck and bus drivers, were found to have hired instructors without proper qualifications, skipped essential student testing, and committed other critical safety infractions during federal inspections.
This action represents the Transportation Department’s ongoing campaign to enhance trucking industry safety standards. Unlike previous efforts last fall that targeted up to 7,500 schools including many already-closed facilities, this current initiative specifically addresses active schools with major deficiencies identified during 1,426 inspection visits.
Federal officials have intensified their scrutiny of states issuing commercial driver’s licenses to unqualified immigrants following a deadly August crash in Florida. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that an unauthorized truck driver performed an illegal U-turn, resulting in three fatalities. Additional fatal incidents, including a recent Indiana crash that claimed four lives, have heightened these safety concerns.
According to Duffy, 448 schools failed to satisfy fundamental safety requirements. Inspectors documented problems including unqualified teaching staff, inadequate student skill assessments, insufficient hazardous materials training, and inappropriate training equipment. An additional 109 schools voluntarily withdrew from the official registry upon learning of planned inspections.
“American families should have confidence that our school bus and truck drivers are following every letter of the law and that starts with receiving proper training before getting behind the wheel,” Duffy said.
The targeted schools are predominantly smaller operations, including several programs operated by school districts. Larger, well-established schools were typically excluded from this enforcement action. Currently, 97 additional schools remain under investigation for compliance violations.
Industry observers point to a fundamental issue within the trucking sector: schools and companies can essentially approve their own operations when applying for certification, with questionable practices potentially going undetected until later Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audits.
The number of students affected by these school closures remains unclear. However, the industry currently has excess driver capacity due to a 10% decline in shipping volumes since 2022 amid economic uncertainty, though many trucking companies continue struggling to recruit well-qualified drivers with clean driving records.
Beyond threatening to revoke federal funding from states with inadequate commercial driver’s license programs, the Trump Administration has emphasized enforcing English proficiency requirements for truck drivers. California stands as the sole state to lose funding thus far, with $160 million in federal support being withheld.
