New truck driver screening program launched
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has launched a new program to help trucking companies screen their potential hires and weed out drivers with records of negligent driving.
The program, called simply the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP), should greatly benefit companies who are looking to hire only the safest drivers in order to limit tractor trailer crashes. For a small fee, the company will be able to see a record of a driver's inspection history and any crashes he or she has been involved in.
The information is available to the drivers themselves as well. For a $10 fee, a driver can see the same information that is available to the trucking companies.
At the moment, use of the PSP is completely voluntary. Hopefully, though, most companies will take advantage of this new program as they hire new drivers. Statistics show that the vast majority of truck drivers have good driving records. Most tractor trailer accidents are caused by a small number of drivers and, unfortunately, in many cases these drivers are not taken off the road. They are given jobs at different companies and cause more wrecks. This new system should be a big step in keeping these repeatedly negligent drivers off the road.
