Trump requiring that truckers speak and read English
President Trump signed an executive order on Monday requiring that truck drivers speak and read English or risk being taken off the road. The post Trump requiring that truckers speak and read English appeared first on FreightWaves.
WASHINGTON — President Trump signed an executive order on Monday requiring truck drivers be able to speak English or be placed out of service.
Among other requirements, the order “mandates revising out-of-service criteria to ensure drivers violating English proficiency rules are placed out-of-service, enhancing roadway safety,” according to a fact sheet published by the White House.
The order reverses a 2016 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration policy change made under the Obama Administration that removed the requirement to place truck drivers out of service for violating federal English Language Proficiency (ELP) rules.
“President Trump believes that English is a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers, as they should be able to read and understand traffic signs; communicate with traffic safety officers, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station personnel; and provide and receive feedback and directions in English,” the fact sheet states.
“Federal law mandates that commercial vehicle drivers read and speak English sufficiently, yet this requirement has not been enforced pursuant to Obama Administration guidance, compromising roadway safety as trucking fatalities have increased since this guidance was issued.”
In addition to mandating that drivers be placed out of service for lacking proficiency in English, it instructs the Transportation secretary to review state issued non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses “to identify any irregularities and ensure American drivers are validly licensed and qualified,” the fact sheet notes.
It also directs the Transportation secretary “to carry out additional administrative, regulatory, or enforcement actions to improve the working conditions of America’s truck drivers.”
The issue of English proficiency and related safety concerns among commercial truck drivers was elevated earlier this year after Trump issued an order on March 1 designating English as the official language of the U.S.
An informal sampling of over 500 comments submitted to the Department of Transportation after its recent request for recommendations on regulations that should be scrapped or revised found that roughly 10% – mostly owner-operators – want the department to enforce CDL requirements on speaking English.
Federal motor carrier safety regulations [391.11(b)(2)] requires that drivers “be able to read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, and to respond to official inquiries and to make entries on required reports and records.”
The move by the administration on Monday “is a welcome step toward restoring a common-sense safety standard,” said Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer.
“Basic English skills are essential for reading critical road signs, understanding emergency instructions, and interacting with law enforcement. Road signs save lives — but only when they’re understood. That’s why OOIDA petitioned the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance earlier this year to reinstate English proficiency as an out-of-service violation.”
OOIDA’s CVSA request asserts that “the ability to understand and react to road signs, especially in emergency situations, is critical for public and operational safety,” and that the lack of proficiency “has led to increased accidents due to misunderstandings or misinterpretations of safety instructions and road signage.”
However, the reason CVSA members voted to remove English proficiency from its out-of-service policy in 2015 was that it “could not substantiate the safety impacts” FMCSA stated in its 2016 policy change.
A press release issued by DOT on Monday recognizing the executive order called on CVSA to update the out-of-service criteria to include the ELP standard.
“Once incorporated, FMCSA’s policy will provide uniform enforcement by Federal and State inspectors,” DOT stated.
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Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.
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