Investigation Prompts Call For Change In Trucking Industry

HOUSTON -- Local 2 Investigates exposed the
problem last year. Now massive, nationwide changes to the trucking
industry are being proposed. Our hidden camera investigation showed how
a person with no experience and little training could still get a
license to drive an 18-wheeler. The proposed changes are aimed at
making the roads safer for you and your family.Our hidden
cameras followed a Local 2 employee last February as he took the
state's road test for a class-A commercial driver's license, a license
that will allow him to drive any 80,0000 pound commercial truck.But
before our employee took the state's test, his only experience with
commercial trucks consisted of watching videos on truck safety for
three hours, studying practice tests for another two hours and a
21-minute, 16-second practice drive. But that practice drive wasn't
even in an 18-wheeler. It was in a 14-wheel vehicle with a push button
transmission and no container on the back. That was all it took for him to pass all of the state's tests and walk away with a class-A commercial driver's license. source