U.S. Proposes Rig Driver Age Minimum, 18

U.S. Proposes Rig Driver Age Minimum, 18

One of Stalco’s major services involves sending big rig drivers to pick up orders from U.S. facilities and transport them into Canada. We offer daily pick-up as well as multiple pick-ups throughout the week from U.S. warehouses to our Canadian fulfillment centers. As something so vital to our business, we aim to ensure the quality and safety of the truck drivers we use, no matter their age.

When we recently learned that the U.S. Congress proposed a bill to allow people as young as 18 to drive big rigs across state borders, we were a bit surprised. This is something we already allow in Canada; the general age to obtain a class 1 commercial vehicle license is 18, given slight differences in each region.

While we don’t expect this to have a huge impact on our business, we’re curious to see how such a bill might affect the trucking industry in the U.S. We understand that there are concerns about allowing drivers younger than 21 to operate big rigs, but we also understand the necessity to do so since the American trucking industry is in short supply of drivers. It is interesting to note that some U.S. states already allow 18 year olds to drive rigs within their region, just not across state borders – meaning the drivers we use might already be encountering 18 year old drivers in states where Stalco transports its shipments.