When a semi-truck driver made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike in August 2025, causing the deaths of three occupants in a minivan, debate ignited over the industry that trains truck drivers and the skill level of those who possess commercial driver’s licenses.
The Florida crash, along with several other fatal accidents caused by semi-truck drivers in recent months, triggered new regulations from the Department of Transportation (DOT) on the trucking industry for the first time in three years and cast a spotlight on “CDL mills.”
So-called CDL mills are companies that offer training for the commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) required for truckers, but otherwise sidestep state regulations and “self-certify” with the federal government as trucker training companies….
Trucking Insiders Reveal How Licensing System Enabled Illegal Immigrant Drivers
