Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990                   TAG: 9003122979
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TRUCKERS

State law is being changed to comply with new federal legislation that creates a national system for licensing truckers. Though at first glance this might appear to be yet another piece of overregulation by Big Brother, the CDL is an idea that's long overdue - and even comes with an unusual fringe benefit.

The immediate purpose of the CDL is to get dangerous truckers off the road. Until now, "highway cowboys" have been able to get drivers' or chauffeurs' licenses in several states. When they're stopped by troopers, they present the license with the fewest violations recorded against it.

Horror stories about these rolling menaces, whose records come to light only after a dramatic and often fatal accident, are numerous. The CDL will get many of these menaces off the road.

Not only will the new license benefit the general public, but also the majority of truckers - the responsible and safe ones. Yes, it means more bureaucracy that all truckers, good and bad, will have to deal with. But good truckers spend more time on the road than most other drivers, and so run a greater risk of tangling with a bad trucker. With a universal CDL, more of the good ones should live to see retirement.

On the negative side, truck companies are reporting a shortage of experienced commercial drivers. But that's a small price to pay for safer roads.

The written test for the CDL is more complicated than the test for a Virginia chauffeur's license, the only one a commercial trucker has needed in the past. According to the Virginia Literacy Initiative, about 20,000 of the state's 150,000 truckers can't read. Most of the 20,000 are are competent drivers, they need help to pass the new test.

Enter the fringe benefit for Virginia. The Literacy Initiative is providing that help. Since October, the group has received 600 requests for audiocassettes and information about special reading-skills classes. The deadline for Virginia truckers to obtain a CDL is 1992, and the Literacy Initiative expects its workload to grow. Though it isn't really the point of the CDL, adult literacy is worthy goal in itself.

The CDL is going to make the roads safer for everyone. And with more "highway cowboys" out of the driver's seat, perhaps it will be easier for the public to think of the many good truckers as "knights of the road."