Truck drivers 18 to 21 years old may soon be allowed to operate big rigs over state lines following the introduction of a piece of legislation in the New York state government.

The piece of legislation, called the WHEEL Act, was introduced by congresswoman Claudia Tenney as an improvement on the pre-existing FAST Act pilot program, a program intended to study the “safety implications of allowing individuals between the ages of 18-21 to operate trucks across state lines,” explained Tenney’s website.

The FAST Act pilot program originally only allowed for veterans between the ages of 18 and 21 to operate trucks across state lines. However, in the year since the FAST Act’s implementation in 2016, it has proven difficult to recruit a sufficient number of young veteran drivers to participate in the study, leaving the study without any “statistically significant numbers.”

Because of the lack of potential participants, Tenney’s WHEEL Act looks to broaden the scope of driver participation by allowing for any truck driver with a Commercial Drivers License between the ages of 18 and 21 to drive across state lines, given they have a clean driving record. This would increase the number of participants in the study as well as improve the quality and accuracy of the information collected from the study.

Tenney explained the reasons behind the proposed legislation like this:

“We already allow qualified drivers in this age group to drive from Long Island to Buffalo without a problem, but prohibit them from crossing the George Washington Bridge from Fort Lee, New Jersey into New York City… Safety on the road should be paramount and that’s why we must get this pilot program right. The updated requirements set out by this bill are stringent – participants must not only possess a valid CDL, they must also have a clean driving record and satisfy the added requirement of completing some other form of training or certification, as determined by the Secretary of Transportation, that demonstrates aptitude, safety, and suitability. Expanding the pilot program under these conditions will enable more qualified individuals to participate as well as generate more robust and accurate data for the Federal Highway Safety Administration to review. All the while, it upholds rigorous safety and training standards to ensure participants are highly skilled.”

If passed, Tenney expects the WHEEL Act to help address the impending trucker shortage by showing the government that truckers between the ages of 18 and 21 should be allowed to travel freely across state lines, therefore adding a whole new demographic to the over-the-road trucking industry.

The American Trucking Association stands behind the WHEEL and FAST Acts, (their letter of support can be found here) but the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association has been voicing their opposition since the original FAST Act was passed in 2016.

“The Agency should take the highest level of care to create, monitor and review this pilot program,” OOIDA wrote, “which seeks to challenge decades of wisdom in order to appease the economic desires of a few.”