The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act’s goal is to improve highway safety by ensuring that drivers of large trucks and buses are qualified to operate those vehicles and to remove unsafe and unqualified drivers from the highways.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has developed and issued standards for testing and licensing commercial motor vehicle drivers.
Among other things, the standards require states to issue a Class A CDL to a commercial motor vehicle driver only after the driver passes knowledge and skills tests administered by the state related to the type of vehicle to be operated. Drivers need a CDL license if they drive interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce.