‘It’s the whole industry’: Veteran driver says CDL crackdown won’t fix training alone

Veteran truck driver Shawn Gresham, founder of Trucking Life Academy in Dalton, Georgia, believes the issues plaguing commercial driver training extend beyond fraudulent or noncompliant schools. Gresham, who has driven commercially for 17 years and logged over 1 million miles, observed that some legitimate schools train students to pass the commercial driver's license (CDL) exam without adequately preparing them for real-world situations on the road.

During his own driver training, Gresham encountered a new driver who got stuck on a mountain and didn't know which gear to use. When he inquired about the driver's trainer, Gresham learned the trainer was asleep at the wheel. Gresham attributes this issue to financial incentives that can lead some carriers to treat trainers more like team drivers, focusing on taking mandatory breaks instead of actively teaching their trainees.

To address these concerns, Gresham plans to open Trucking Life Academy, which will offer smaller classes of six students, weekend training sessions, and manual transmission practice. The academy's tuition is $3,795, and students can return for additional training free of charge if they fail to master required skills by the course's end.

Gresham also aims to prepare students for the pressures of trucking, including handling traffic, weather, fatigue, and dispatcher pressure. He emphasizes the need for instructors with clean records and limits on the number of students per trainer, as well as adequate training facilities and trucks.