TRUCK DRIVERS MAY GET TO TAKE TRAFFIC SCHOOL

GOOD NEWS FOR TRUCK DRIVERS?

Are you (or do you know) a professional truck driver?  Do you carry a Commercial Driver’s License?  If so, some good news may be headed your way.

Currently, California law prohibits professional drivers from attending traffic school to mask citations on their records, even for citations received while driving their personal vehicles, including motorcycles.  However, this may soon change.

The law was adopted eight years ago to comply with federal rules, however many have argued that the law unfairly punishes commercial drivers by denying them access to traffic school for citations received when they are off the clock.  In fact, doing so has had a significantly negative impact on professional drivers’ abilities to maintain employment.  Most employers of commercial drivers require their drivers to maintain low point counts on their records.  Under the new law insurance companies would still be notified of the violations, but if the driver attends an approved traffic school course, such as BESTtrafficschool.com, the POINTS would not be included, which is most significant.  It’s the number of points on a driving record that determine whether or not a driver’s license is suspended and influences most employer’s decisions whether or not to hire drivers.

Advocates for the new law argue that violations in non-commercial vehicles should be treated the same way for all drivers, whether the driver possesses a commercial driver’s license or not.

It looks like the state senate agrees.  They voted unanimously to advance the bill – AB1888 – which is now headed back to the state assembly for approval.  A majority vote would send the bill to Governor Brown’s desk.

You can follow the status of AB1888 by clicking here.