Commercial driver shortage creates feeding frenzy effect

One Kilgore businessman says the shortage of qualified commercial truck drivers resembles a "feeding frenzy."

"Companies are hiring each other's employees," Jeff Bolding said. "There's not a shortage of applicants who pass the written portion of the CDL test, but its a joke when you talk about the driving portion of the test."

Bolding was addressing members of the Kilgore Economic Development Corporation (KEDC) board at a meeting earlier this week.

"I'm seeking guidance," he said. "We need help. We have young people who need jobs and after they go to school; they can't get tested."

Tests are conducted at the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Drivers License Office in Longview, which opens at 7:45 a.m. weekdays.

"You can go in and take the written test anytime," Bolding said. "But then you have to wait and, many times, come back day after day to take the driving portion because of the lack of examiners."

He said the driving tests are given on a "first come, first served" basis and "people start lining up way before 7:45 (a.m.) hoping to get a slot."

Bolding said he was told the Longview DPS office has only three slots open for truck driver testing daily -two in the morning and one in the afternoon.

"We were told (by some of the drivers already tested) not to take an afternoon slot because very few passed it," he said. "They said it was like the examiner doesn't want to be there and takes it out on the driver."

Bolding, his employee and an appropriate vehicle have made the trip to Longview four times. On the fourth day, Bolding's potential driver arrived at 4:30 a.m. He was the second in line. He said the third applicant for the driving test showed up at 4:35 a.m. and the fourth sometime after that.

"The fourth person in line got the 9:30 a.m. (first) slot and my driver got the 2 p.m. slot," Bolding said. "Common sense needs to prevail."

Bolding isn't the only area businessman frustrated by the situation.

"The oil field business needs drivers," he said. "We don't want to put someone not certified or trained behind the wheel of a big truck. But we can't get (potential) drivers certified because of the lack of examiners."

Bolding said he wonders how people are expected to get driving jobs when they don't have access to examiners.

"That's the Achilles Heel of the situation," he said. "They can take the written test any time only to have to wait to take the driving part. Gilmer, which is half the size of both Kilgore and Henderson has a DPS office. What's the problem?"

Bolding said he and others in the industry are concerned.

"This is a bigger problem than one person," he said. "It's a joke for people trying to get a job in an industry

where jobs are plentiful and not be able to get certified (because of a shortage of examiners)."

Bolding pointed out that the DPS office in Henderson was closed and those residents have to go to Tyler or Longview for testing.

Sgt. Paul Hernandez is in charge of the Drivers License Office in Longview. He said the Henderson office was closed because it did not meet ADA standards.

"We have no problem giving the (driving) test (in Longview)," he said. "One week I did have an examiner on vacation and we ran a little behind there. But we usually don't have that big a back-log. We do not have an on-going problem. When one examiner is on vacation we get a little behind."

He said the Longview office has two examiners who handle other duties when not busy testing. Hernandez said an examiner can test four regular drivers an hour, while it takes 45 minutes for each CDL (commercial) road test.

Hernandez said during the week in May when two examiners were on duty one gave 23 (regular) driving tests and five CDLs. The other administered 15 (regular) driving tests and two CDL road tests.

"We had seven total that week," Hernandez said.

During the week when one examiner was on vacation, the examiner on duty handled all the tests alone. He conducted six CDL road tests and 39 other driving tests, according to Hernandez.

"We average between seven and 12 CDL and 30 to 40 other driving tests a week," Hernandez said

Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the DPS in Austin, said the DPS captain in charge of this area has a been brief on the situation.

Hernandez, who just returned to Longview after attending a DPS meeting in Garland for several days, was unhappy the problem was not taken directly to him.

"The person should have come to me and not gone to the news media,"

he said. "The news media should have referred him to me. It's not pertinent to the news media."

Hernandez said generally complaints "come from people who failed the test."

Bradley Reagh of Kilgore said he has not failed the test because he hasn't taken the road test yet.

"I took the written test and was scheduled to take the driving part at 3:15 that day," Reagh said. "The examiner said there was a problem with one of the tires on the truck and I couldn't take the test. That truck with that tire passed inspection. There was nothing wrong with it."

Reagh said he was scheduled to test on the next day but didn't get the take the test that day either because "they said they were short-handed. This will be the third time I have to go back," he said. "It's ridiculous."

"We're doing the best we can with the full-time employees allotted to us," Vinger said. "We have to serve businesses and the general traveling public also."

Vinger said "special arrangements can be made (for the driving portion of the test). A company can call the office and make an appointment and we've even conducted on-site testing."

Special arrangements are made by contacting the DPS captain in Garland. Vinger did not know the captain's name.

When asked if the public knew about these ways of addressing the situation, VInger said "probably not."

The same lack of communication seems to be true of "learner's licenses."

Bolding discovered on his third trip to the Longview DPS Office that an applicant can get a learner's permit after passing the written part of the test.

"We were never told about that," Bolding said. "We could have gotten a learner's permit and had the applicant practice before taking the driving test."