So, is MTC the only "bad" school out there?  Of course not.  There are many more where they came from and more go into business all the time.  There is but one well known private group (Professional Truck Driver Institute)  that has been basically "self-appointed" to set standards and guidelines in truck driver training.  They encourage schools to certify their courses.  This is supposed to help ensure the trainee that he/she will be taught according to PTDI guidelines.

While this is better than nothing, there are certainly holes in this system as well.  Schools certify their courses, not the actual school.  Therefore, a school may offer a certified course as well as one (or more) that are not certified.  It is up to the trainee to "read the fine print" as to the course he/she will take.

Certification is fairly expensive.  According the the PTDI website, an initial certification costs nearly $4000.00.  Re-certifying their courses costs slightly less, $3465.00, and must be done three years after the initial certification.  Some smaller and/or "mom and pop" schools who charge a reasonable fee for good instruction simply cannot afford this.

After the re-certification at the three year mark, the PTDI may then allow a school to go more years before recertifying a course.  Many things can happen in 3, 4, 5, 6 years.

At the heart of it all, if you use PTDI certification as a measurement of a school's course, this must mean that you trust fully in what they have established as guidelines for instruction and curriculum.  While these standards seem to be good, at times they do appear vague.  Less reputable schools, then, can and do become certified.

It is evident that the trucking industry is not going to properly police itself when it comes to truck driver training.  PTDI does nothing to prevent and/or shut down CDL Mills.  You can't even call the PTDI impartial... contribute to their clubs and you can get your company listed on their job opportunities page and in their publications.

The only defense we truly have is educating prospective drivers and exposing the rip off artists.  As time goes on, there will be more research and information available as to the correlation between those who succeed and those who fail and how it relates to how well they were trained.  Someday we will likely hear of a trainee who crashes a truck and turns around and sues their driving school for not having properly prepared them.