U.S. CDL system riddled with loopholes, Inspector General reports

WASHINGTON (May 13, 2002 / truckinginfo.com) — Federal officials are not doing enough to make sure commercial driver’s licenses don’t get into the wrong hands. That’s the conclusion of the inspector general’s office at the U.S. Department of Transportation in a report released last week.

The CDL audit is the second in a series prompted by a request from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to look at the effectiveness of the CDL program. The first report showed that the objective of limiting drivers to one CDL has largely been achieved, but problems exist with how states disqualify commercial drivers convicted for traffic violations. This audit focused on federal oversight of the CDL program.

The Inspector General’s office “found that existing federal standards and state controls are not sufficient to defend against the alarming threat posed by individuals who seek to fraudulently obtain CDLs.”

The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration oversees the CDL program, which is administered by the states, but federal standards alone fail to address how states should verify the eligibility of CDL applications. Since 1998, the report notes, suspected fraud in the testing and licensing of commercial drivers has been identified in 16 states. For instance, the report found, only four out of 13 states investigators visited had laws requiring applicants to demonstrate that they are citizens or legally in the United States. Only one required proof of state residency. Neither requirement is included in federal standards. States are also not required to verify Social Security numbers. In five of those states, CDL examiners don’t have to hold CDLs themselves, nor is this required by federal standards.

The Inspector General called for more “covert testing” of third-party testers — where a state employee takes the CDL test posing as an applicant. In Pennsylvania, the report says, between 1998 and 2001, 85 covert tests of third-party testers resulted in the removal of 14 driver examiners.

In addition, the report found, FMCSA needs to be tougher in enforcing federal CDL standards, for instance by withholding federal highway funds.