Posted on 07/30/2025 6:33:35 PM PDT by george76
Following new guidelines from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to enforce English language proficiency for commercial truck drivers, 1,500 drivers have had their licenses placed out of service by law enforcement, The Daily Signal has learned.
“‘America First’ means safety first. Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs,” Duffy said in May at the signing of the guidelines. “This commonsense change ensures the penalty for failure to comply is more than a slap on the wrist.”
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a division of the Transportation Department, has had longstanding English-language proficiency requirements.
However, in 2016, the Obama administration directed the agency not to enforce the English proficiency requirement.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration noted that the inability to read signs or speak English has led to fatalities. In January of this year, a non-English-speaking commercial driver was involved in a fatal crash in West Virginia and needed an interpreter for the post-crash investigation, according to the agency.
In 2019, a truck driver who was not proficient in English sped at almost 100 miles per hour through several signs that warned of a steep grade and dangerous curves. His actions led to a crash that killed four people, according to the agency.
Under Duffy’s May 20 guidance, commercial motor vehicle drivers who don’t comply with the English-language proficiency requirements will be placed out of service.
Within the first 30 days of the guidance being in effect, 1,500 commercial drivers were placed out of service.
In April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that led to Duffy’s May guidance. The same day the executive order was signed, Duffy announced steps to rescind the Obama administration policy that dismissed English-language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers.
“That is why federal law requires that, to operate a commercial vehicle, a driver must ‘read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records,’” Trump’s executive order says. “Yet this requirement has not been enforced in years, and America’s roadways have become less safe.”
Trump’s order continues: “My administration will enforce the law to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, passengers, and others, including by upholding the safety enforcement regulations that ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is properly qualified and proficient in our national language, English.”
Trucking industry groups have supported Trump’s executive order.
“We thank the Trump administration for responding to our concerns on the uneven application of this existing regulation, and we look forward to working with FMCSA [Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] and the law enforcement community on an objective, consistent, and effective enforcement standard,” said Dan Horvath, American Trucking Associations senior vice president of regulatory and safety policy.
Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to reflect that law enforcement agencies, not the U.S. Department of Transportation, are suspending the commercial driver’s licenses.
Winningp
Perhaps I missed it, but what percentage of all US truck drivers does this compose?
I will just brace myself for possible slowed shipping times, for the miscellaneous ‘stuff’ I order online a few times a month. It’s worth taking the time, to be sure those truck drivers are fully qualified, starting with knowing our common language.
¿Dónde está la oficina de bienestar?
dame mas dinero
Voy a hacer huelga
🚚🚛🚚🚛
Where is the welfare office?
Give me more money.
I’m going on strike.
On mountainous West Virginia roads and highways? Talk about sugar-coating it. I doubt lack of English proficiency was the problem. El niño es un pendejo estupido.
Deport.
I’m 100% in support of this.
They just started. It’s a lot more than 1,500. When I was driving, there were a lot of Pakis, Ukrainians, Indians, others. Americans refuse to drive for the low pay.
I saw a video on YouTube of a Chinese-American guy who was pulled over for a simple traffic violation. The guy had all his documents in order. But he could barely speak English. So he wasn’t able to follow the cop’s directions.
Because of that, the guy ended up fighting with the cop.
So here’s an idea. To get a driver’s license in these United States, you must first pass a driver’s proficiency test AND an English language test.
None of this press 1 for Spanish, press 2 for Mandarin stuff.
Good! Roads will be safer now that truck drivers are required to be able to read signs and routes and such.
¡Puente adelante, amigo!
(“ Bridge out ahead dude! ”)
Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos crashed into stopped traffic in Denver.. a Cuban truck driver, killed four people and injured several others. found guilty on 27 counts = could not read English?
Initially, he was sentenced to 110 years in prison, but his sentence was later commuted to 10 years by Jared Polis..
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4329813/posts
EXCELLENT!!!!
I voted for this.
👍👍👍
Notice how many truckers come from India? They have their own truck stops.
No more no habla fuctardo.excellent.
I once watched a man who couldn’t speak English take a CDL HazMat test with the aid of an interpreter.
Sean Duffy = Wisconsin! MAGA!
“’Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs,’ Duffy said...”
When I participated in a REFORGER* exercise (Return the Forces to Germany) in 1986, we spent WEEKS learning all of the German road/traffic signs and what they meant.
*Not sure if this still stands, but they would conduct these ‘exercises’ from time to time to show our ALLIES that American forces COULD show up within 30 days, totally equipped and ready to help them with whatever they needed.
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