The Real Fix Starts at the Testing Table

If we’re serious about road safety, the focus can’t stay stuck on blaming drivers after something happens. The real accountability starts higher up, at the people and systems responsible for deciding who is qualified to be on the road in the first place. When CDL testing was handled mostly by the state, the process was slower and stricter, and fewer people walked away with a license because the standard was enforced with less outside pressure.

Now that more CDL exams are being administered through private third-party testing, the incentives have shifted. When testing becomes tied to business, speed, and customer satisfaction, there’s an unspoken push to be more lenient, especially on borderline mistakes. On paper the rules may look the same, but in real life the gate can get easier to pass through, and that’s how bigger problems end up happening later on the highway.