FMCSA names CDL schools swept into nationwide emergency shutdown

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) emergency crackdown on entry-level driver training providers covered 111 entries across 20 states, online operations and providers whose locations were recorded as inactive or unknown, according to a reconstructed roster reviewed by FreightWaves.

The Aug. 31 emergency action ordered the affected providers to immediately stop operating as registered entry-level driver training providers. That prohibition covers administering the FMCSA entry-level driver training curriculum, using facilities or vehicles for instruction, providing behind-the-wheel training, enrolling students and submitting training certifications through the agency’s Training Provider Registry.

The reconstructed roster offers the most complete picture so far of the schools caught up in the emergency action. It includes 84 entries associated with physical locations in 20 states, 23 online entries and four inactive entries where no state was identified.

There is an important caveat to the 111-entry total. The roster is organized according to where training was conducted, rather than strictly by individual corporate entity.

As a result, some providers appear more than once across states or categories. American Trucking LLC, for instance, is listed both in Florida and online. United CDL appears in Maryland and West Virginia. California Truck Driving School, KMT Logistics, OSSO Corp. and West Coast Truck School are each listed in both California and Utah. Other names also appear in the online and inactive categories.

That structure helps account for the difference between the 111 entries in the reconstructed roster and the figures initially cited by federal officials. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the action as an emergency shutdown involving 110 CDL schools, while FMCSA’s formal announcement referred to more than 110 providers.

Texas and Pennsylvania recorded the largest number of physical-location entries, with 13 each. California followed with 11, Florida with 10 and Utah with nine. Together, those five states represented 56 of the 84 state-based entries, or roughly two-thirds of the total.

FMCSA said it identified the providers by comparing records in the Training Provider Registry with roadside inspection records involving drivers who had been cited for failing federal English-language proficiency requirements.

According to officials, every school selected for emergency removal had trained at least 10 drivers who were subsequently cited for English proficiency violations. In total, those providers had certified more than 5,000 drivers who were later cited for such violations.

The CDL schools included in the Aug. 31 emergency removal

The roster below details the commercial trucking schools and online operations included in the reconstructed emergency-removal list.

Emergency removals are not proposed removals

The 111-entry emergency-removal roster should not be merged with a separate group of more than 160 providers that received notices of proposed removal.

An emergency removal takes effect immediately. Under FMCSA regulations, the agency can remove a provider from the registry without first issuing a proposed-removal notice when it determines that keeping the provider listed would create an imminent hazard or a substantial likelihood of death or serious injury.

Providers can seek administrative review, but the emergency order remains in force unless it is stayed or reversed.

A notice of proposed removal follows a different administrative path. Providers receiving such a notice must inform current students and individuals scheduled for training about the action, but the notice itself does not constitute an immediate emergency shutdown.

Those providers may submit a corrective-action plan or seek administrative review under the applicable Training Provider Registry procedures.

FMCSA said the proposed-removal notices came after nearly 400 investigations carried out by 175 investigators in 40 states during July. The agency cited a range of issues, including instructors who did not hold the required licenses, training ranges that were too small to accommodate required maneuvers, missing training and assessment records, and questionable classroom facilities.

FMCSA also said drivers certified by the more than 160 providers in the proposed-removal group had been linked to 239 commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities.

Among the larger training networks reported in that separate group are 160 Driving Academy, Truck Driver Institute and Ancora. They are not included in the reconstructed 111-entry emergency-removal roster above unless a particular location also appears there under a separate emergency order.

The distinction is important for students and employers attempting to verify a school’s status. FMCSA maintains separate Training Provider Registry pages covering providers that have been removed and providers that are under review, and those lists may change as individual proceedings are resolved.

Why it matters: The reconstructed roster provides a clearer picture of the providers ordered to immediately stop entry-level driver training operations, while keeping them distinct from the more than 160 schools that received proposed-removal notices.