US Bans Foreign Immigrants from Obtaining Truck Driving Licenses After Florida Accident

Earlier, three people in a car lost their lives in a road accident caused by an Indian-origin driver of a truck in Florida, USA. Following this accident, the Trump administration of America has prohibited the granting of Commercial Driving License (CDL) to foreign truck driver immigrants with immediate effect. With this order, the dream of lakhs of foreign truck drivers to travel to America and drive a truck will now never come true.

Every year, lakhs of people from all over the world go to America to make their career in fields like science, technology, and medicine. If they make a good career, many people take citizenship there. But you will not know that lakhs of people also go to America to become truck drivers. Now the question is, what is so special about truck driving that people go to America to do this job? This work can be done in our country too, then what is the need to go to America for this?

Actually, driving a truck in America is not considered a small job like in India. Here, truck drivers not only get a hefty salary, but also many facilities. Driving a truck in America is no less than a hefty-salaried job. Apart from this, the most important thing is that compared to India, the profession of a truck driver in America is considered to be respectable and offers a better life.

The life of a truck driver in America is so safe and respected that many young girls from India are going there and driving trucks. These young girls also share their experiences of driving on American highways on YouTube.

In India, the salary of truck drivers is only Rs 20-25 thousand. Comparing it with America, the average salary of truck drivers in America is 60,000 to 1,00,000 US dollars (Rs 4.50-8.50 lakh) annually. At the same time, drivers with more experience earn up to 2,00,000 dollars (about 17.50 lakh rupees) a year.

Many truck drivers are also paid on the basis of contract, kilometer, working hours or load, which according to many reports can be from 1,300 to 3,142 rupees per hour on average (18 to 28 dollars).

Working hours for truck drivers in America are strictly followed. In America, a truck driver cannot drive a truck for more than 8 hours continuously. He has to take a break of 30 minutes in 8 hours. At the same time, he can drive a truck for 60 hours in a week, that is, the working time in a day is limited to 9 hours. If the driver is made to work for more hours than this, action can be taken against the company.

Dog nose trucks are quite popular in America. Large cargo or shipments are transported on long routes with these. The biggest feature of these trucks is that they have a separate air conditioned (AC) cabin for the driver to rest. Many big trucks also have toilets and kitchens. Truck drivers rest in them while traveling on long routes.

A large number of truck drivers in America are also from the Sikh community. According to the 2018 data of the North American Punjabi Trucking Association (NAPTA), more than 30,000 Sikhs are working in the trucking industry in the US. However, many reports claim that their number is up to 1,80,000 and most of them are truck drivers. Many experts believe that the policy of not giving work visas to foreign commercial truck drivers in America may lead to a shortage of truck drivers in this industry in the coming times.