GLENPOOL, Oklahoma — The U.S. Department of Transportation is cracking down on people towing things behind their vehicles.
Sean Johnson trains horses and transports them across the country for shows. As of now, he has been able to hit the road driving his truck and trailer with a Class C driver's license. That will soon change.
"Everybody that competes and hauls down the road and shows horses, cattle, whatever. If you're getting paid to go down the road or paid to compete, then it affects you," Johnson said.
The U.S. DOT requires people involved in any sort of interstate commerce to get their commercial driver's license. That will mandate them to install an Electronic Logging Device in their trucks to monitor how long they have been on the road. The ELD will also require them to take breaks.
Johnson is worried about how that will affect his operation.
"We have livestock and to have to split up your trips... If we're going to Vegas that turns into a two-day trip," Johnson said. "Well now you got to put it in somebody else's barn. You run the risk of them catching whatever illnesses from being in a new place."
People caught on the road without their CDL could face of a fine of several thousand dollars.
Johnson said he knows people who have been stopped and they were required to hire someone else to drive their truck for the rest of the trip.
"It's like anything else," Johnson said. "In the beginning, change isn't that great of an idea, but we just figure out how to deal with it and go on."
Click here for more information and a deadline to get a CDL.
