The recently passed infrastructure bill contained a new rule allowing some teens to legally drive semi-trucks, in the hope that allowing them to do so will create a supply of new drivers that can alleviate the supply chain troubles America faces today. Bloomberg reports:
Dezjion Henson has wanted to be a truck driver his whole life. When he turned 18 last year he jumped at the chance and signed on as an apprentice with Total Transportation of Mississippi, LLC in Richland, Mississippi.
He assumed he would have to wait until he turns 21 to book the lucrative, cross-country runs he took with his father. But the new infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden will let some drivers as young as 18 make interstate trips, a move aimed at easing the nation’s supply-chain squeeze but one that’s raising safety concerns.
The three-year pilot program was opposed by safety advocates who point out that teenagers crash at four times the rate of older drivers. But it was included in the infrastructure law at the urging of the industry, which says it’s 80,000 drivers short of where it needs to be to meet demand projections.
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