DRIVE-SAFE Act Opens Interstate Trucking to Under-21 Drivers with 400-Hour Supervised Apprenticeship

The Developing Responsible Individuals for a Vibrant Economy Act, or the DRIVE-SAFE Act, is looking to tackle the long-haul trucking industry’s driver shortage by creating a new, federally regulated path for drivers under 21 to haul freight across state lines. Essentially, this bill creates a structured apprenticeship program that allows 18, 19, and 20-year-olds who already hold a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to enter interstate commerce, a sector previously limited to drivers aged 21 and older.

The 400-Hour Road Test: What the Apprenticeship Looks Like

If you’re under 21 and want to drive interstate, you have to enroll in an employer-created apprenticeship program detailed in Section 2. This training is split into two mandatory phases totaling 400 hours of on-duty time. The first phase is a 120-hour probationary period (80 hours driving) focused on basic skills like speed management and turning. Once that’s done, the apprentice moves to a 280-hour phase (160 hours driving) to master advanced maneuvers like pre-trip inspections, coupling/uncoupling, and figuring out weight distribution. The kicker? During all this training, the apprentice must have an “experienced driver”—someone 26 or older with two years of clean interstate driving experience—sitting right next to them in the cab. If the apprentice gets into a preventable accident or a moving violation during training, they have to go back to school for extra remediation until the employer signs off on their skills.

Tech Mandates: Safety First or Just Costly?

The bill mandates that any truck used in this apprenticeship must be equipped with modern safety tech. We’re talking automatic or automated manual transmissions (no shifting gears manually), active braking collision mitigation systems, and forward-facing video recording equipment. For the industry, this means employers can’t use older, less-equipped trucks for their training fleets, potentially driving up the cost of entry for smaller trucking companies. For the apprentice, it means they are learning on the newest, safest equipment available. However, once they complete the program, the bill doesn't explicitly restrict them to only driving trucks with these features, which raises questions about the transition to older or less-equipped vehicles.

The Real-World Trade-Off: Risk vs. Workforce

This legislation is a direct response to the massive driver shortage impacting supply chains and logistics. By lowering the age barrier, the industry gains a much-needed pipeline of younger workers. For the young driver, it's a huge opportunity to start a high-paying career years earlier. But let’s be real: allowing drivers under 21—a demographic statistically associated with higher accident rates—to operate massive commercial vehicles on highways introduces a new level of risk. While the required supervision and safety tech are designed to mitigate this, the public and other drivers on the road are essentially the proving ground for this new workforce. The bill locks employers into this specific, federally approved program if they want to hire young interstate drivers, meaning they can’t just hire an 18-year-old CDL holder and put them on the road; they must commit to the full 400-hour, supervised training structure.