WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 16, 2008) — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has extended the comment period for a Notice of Proposed Rule Making that would impose more restrictions on how commercial drivers obtain licenses and commercial learner’s permits.

The rule (Docket number FMCSA-2007-27659) would require drivers to wait 30 days between taking the knowledge test and the skills test. The rule proposed requires all third-party testers to conduct at least 50 tests per year. It also clarified that applicants for a school bus endorsement must also obtain a passenger vehicle endorsement.

The National School Transportation Association has already voiced its opposition to the rule. In comments sent to the FMCSA, the association argued these rules impose a hardship on contractors and did not recognize unique characteristics of the school bus industry.

NSTA argued the problems FMCSA sought to solve by imposing a waiting period were nonexistent in the school transportation industry. School bus carriers frequently pay for CDL training or provide free training themselves in preparation for license testing, so it is was not in the carrier’s interest to rush applicants through school, NSTA said. Instead, the FMCSA was asked to amend the rule to apply only to drivers that receive their training from commercial driving schools.

NSTA also recommended the FMCSA allow states to determine their own standards for CDL testing institutions. A proposal to require all third-party testers to test at least 50 drivers a year would mean 80 percent of contractors would be deemed too small to test their own drivers, NSTA said.

Richard G. Meyer of School Buses, Inc., of Scotland. S.D., said minimum testing standards would strike rural communities like his particularly hard because it would force drivers to travel far for testing.

"However, the minimum of 10 skills tests per year for each examiner is well within reason," he added.

Read the entire NPRM or comment online through July 9.