Posted on 09/01/2007 10:35:17 AM PDT by Dubya
Interstate truck and bus drivers across America may find themselves pulled off the highway if state troopers or vehicle inspectors find they can't speak English.
The requirement has been on the books for decades, but enforcement has begun before Mexican trucks are allowed in the U.S. interior as of Thursday.
"We have found people in violation of this for a number of years, and we're working feverishly to correct it," said John Hill, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Since 1971, federal law has said that commercial drivers must read and speak English "sufficiently to understand highway traffic signs and signals and directions given in English and to respond to official inquiries."
Hill said the language deficiency was found mostly in the commercial zone that varies from 25 miles to 75 miles north of the Mexican border, but since inspectors there are bilingual and Mexican truckers are not allowed past that zone, it hasn't been an issue.
But after more than a decade of legal wrangling, U.S. highways are opening up.
The North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 called for Mexican and U.S. trucks to travel freely throughout one another's nations, but the provision was stalled by labor unions and environmental groups' arguments that the trucks are unsafe.
A pilot program allowing a limited number of already approved Mexican trucks to pass the border zone was set to begin as early as Saturday, but Hill said no trucks will pass beyond the border zone pending a final report by the inspector general. The program is now scheduled to take effect Thursday, though it could still be stopped by a Teamsters Union request before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California.
The language requirement is part of a long checklist, ranging from criminal background and drug and alcohol testing, that carriers must pass to go into the interior.
U.S. commercial drivers going into the Mexican interior, as part of the reciprocal agreement, will have to speak Spanish.
Under the new enforcement regulations, drivers who can't speak English in the commercial zone may be ticketed and fined. Those beyond the border zone will also be pulled off the road.
Richard Henderson, director of government affairs for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, a nonprofit group representing federal and state highway inspectors and highway patrols, said the requirement was a "no brainer."
"The bottom line is safety," Henderson said. "Obviously, if [the driver] can't speak English he's not going to know what some of the regulations are."
We will see how much this law is enforced. I would guess not at all.
And.....this is suppose to??????
Not because any significant majority of the public wants them to.
After a year or so of being screwed with by foreign thugs driving giant vehicles I predict this to emerge as a major campaign issue.
And the only people for it will be a few shipping companies who just want to break trucker unions and the La Raza hate groups. And, of course, the principle representatives of those two groups, the Bush family.
WORD.
That'll do it.
If past experience is any teacher, that's a good guess.
So truckers will be required to speak English?
And exactly, what is the benchmark for speaking English?
Si = Yes?
No = No?
You pass the test. Go on your way.
Our fatally, flawed government (full of crooks and perverts) consider us so stupid.
This WND article reports that teachers in Mesa, AZ, incompetently, do not speak English...http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57419
Probable little enforcement or detection will be effected to this trucking requirement...there are uncountable ‘false front’ regulations in the US now.
I would hazard a guess, then, that you aren't really reading. (Jest a guess)
Even if there was any intention of enforcing any of these requirements, and I doubt that there is, the Mexican drivers will be safe in the many "sanctuary cities" throughout America.
If Bush cared anything about the jobs of American truckers and the safety of American citizens, he could stop this, but he doesn't care, and he won't.
Why didn’t anyone alert me that pigs are now winged lofty creatures?
La FMCSA les da la Bienvenida a los Autotransportistas Mexicanos: Aquí usted encontrará recursos, información, y solicitudes necesarias para operar de manera segura en los EE.UU.
FMCSA Welcomes Mexican Motor Carriers: Here you will find resources, information, and applications to assist you in operating safely in the U.S.
I guess I’m fortunate to live in a part of the country where presenting all the above currencies would get you laughed out of the place.
I do now as well. But growing up and while visiting my family I saw a dual-currency economy where nobody bats an eye at exchange rates and colorful paper money.
That should read "THE BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON" North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994
I didn’t know they were pushing this through.
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