Recent news media articles have reported about a bill pending in Congress to lower the minimum driving age for operators of big trucks on interstate highways, from the present age 21, to 18. The bill is being pushed by the trucking industry due to an estimated nationwide shortage of about 35,000 truck drivers.
I hope and expect the traffic safety community to line up in strong opposition to this bill. The research shows unequivocally that drivers in their late teens and early 20’s have high cash rates: the human brain’s judgment and development function is not fully developed until about age 22 to 25; and big trucks, when they crash, cause the most damage because of their size and weight.
To allow 18-20 year olds to operate big trucks on interstate highways is public safety lunacy. If the trucking industry is facing a shortage of drivers, the answer is to raise compensation and benefits and attract more people from the experienced driver population, not put the driving public at greater risk.
