TAMPA, Fla. — At Tampa’s Roadmaster Drivers School, the focus is squarely on safety.

Aspiring truck drivers undergo a 30-day training program before they’re allowed on the highways.

“They begin their journey here on the skills pad, where they practice in a secure, controlled setting,” explained Brad Ball, the school’s president. “Gradually, they progress to real-world driving scenarios.”

This approach is what the Trump administration envisions nationwide. Just this week, the Department of Transportation (DOT) revealed a significant industry crackdown, warning that certification could be revoked for over 40% of the country’s trucking schools, including 148 based in Florida.

The DOT said Monday that it plans to revoke the certification of nearly 3,000 schools, including 66 in Florida. Another 4,500 schools, including 82 in Florida, are being warned they may face similar action. These schools were told they must notify their students that their certification is in jeopardy.

The department says these schools failed to meet training standards and did not maintain accurate and complete records. They also accuse them of falsifying or manipulating training data.

“It is a problem, and it’s been a problem for years,” Ball said.

Ball said there are many schools out there that are taking his 30-day curriculum and cramming it into 2-3 days. 

“It’s just impossible,” he said. “It’s very dangerous. In fact, there’s been accidents that have recently popped up that show how dangerous that really is.”

Ball is referring to the crash that spurred this crackdown by the DOT. This began after a truck driver made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike in August and caused a crash that killed three people.

While some of the schools on this list are bad actors, 10 Investigates found just a sample of those providers that were removed didn’t need the accreditation. There were city governments and colleges that weren’t even aware they were on this list.

“There are bad actors out there, but I don’t think the list tells the whole story,” 10 Investigates reporter Jennifer Titus said. “We actually talked to a college who is on the list for Florida, and they told us that they still offer the program, but it’s a third party vendor that runs it.”

Andrew Poliakoff is the executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association, which is the largest association representing commercial truck driver training programs in the country. He also feels that there are a number of schools on this list that probably don’t belong there.

But he does believe it’s the first step in making sure those on the roads got there the right way.

“What we see this as is a very important first step on the path towards greater enforcement,” he said.

The programs that did receive this notice will have 30 days to respond and provide evidence that they are meeting the training standards.