Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trucking Fatalities Have Increased Since Feds Stopped Suspending Truckers Who Can’t Read English
Cowboy State Daily ^ | 2/28/25 | Clair McFarland

Posted on 03/02/2025 12:49:00 PM PST by CFW

Traffic crashes involving large commercial trucks have been on the rise since 2016, and some in the industry are pointing to a simultaneous rise in non-English-speaking truckers.

Wyoming is no stranger to deadly large-truck crashes, and had the most per capita — at 5.1 per 100,000 people — in 2022, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That’s nearly three times the national average of 1.8 fatal truck crashes per 100,000 people.

Data from the National Safety Council shows fatal crashes involving large trucks rising consistently starting in 2016, from about 4,500 in the nation that year to 5,837 in 2022.

By contrast, those annual figures stayed below 4,000 from 2009 to 2014.

To Shannon Everett, co-founder of trucker advocacy group American Truckers United, said 2016 was a pivotal year for deadly truck crash statistics.

That was the year the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a memorandum telling safety inspectors not to suspend commercial drivers for failing to communicate well in English.

The guidance is despite a federal rule that still says a person shall not drive a commercial vehicle unless he can converse with the general public, understand highway traffic signs and signals in English, respond to official inquiries and enter his own reports.

“Since they’ve told everyone to stand down, no longer enforcing that when they issue the license — these drivers are just being let go,” Everett told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. “And because of that they’ve become emboldened. We have a flood of (non-English-speaking) drivers entering the United States.”

The “dramatic rise” in fatal truck crashes has risen since the memo was issued, Everett noted — even as the industry adopts more safety measures like dash cameras, collision mitigation systems and driver-facing cameras.

(Excerpt) Read more at cowboystatedaily.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Wyoming
KEYWORDS: accidents; highways; illegalaliens; trucking
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last
What a surprise!
1 posted on 03/02/2025 12:49:00 PM PST by CFW
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: CFW
Driver has to be able to converse with the general public??

BS...

He needs to read signs.

I think they need to take a closer look at those accidents...and BE HONEST.

2 posted on 03/02/2025 12:54:15 PM PST by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Quelle surprise!


3 posted on 03/02/2025 12:54:18 PM PST by Blurb2350 (posted from my 1500-watt blow dryer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Put out by the motor carrier SAFTY commission.

This is the “safety commission “ that i as business have to pay 150 bucks a year because I have a truck. You know to keep everyone safe.


4 posted on 03/02/2025 12:56:07 PM PST by TalBlack (Their god is government. Prepare for a religious war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

A lot of H1B truckers were given class A licenses without having to take the test.


5 posted on 03/02/2025 12:57:21 PM PST by Wilderness Conservative (Nature is the ultimate conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW
By 2017, 75% of the new Class 8 trucks/tractors sold in the U.S. had automatic transmissions.

THIS is almost certainly the biggest factor in rising heavy truck crash rates. The industry has basically flooded the highways with cheap labor, and many of these new drivers are morons who don't know how to drive a truck.

6 posted on 03/02/2025 12:57:42 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Well, maybe I'm a little rough around the edges; inside a little hollow.” -- Tom Petty, “Rebels”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Maybe if they didn’t make getting and keeping a CDL so onerous more “Americans” would get back into truck driving.


7 posted on 03/02/2025 1:03:24 PM PST by VTenigma (Conspiracy theory is the new "spoiler alert")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

About 20 years ago, as I renewing my CDL, I witnessed a foreign man taking the written HAZMAT test. He had a translator helping him.

I imagine tests are easier if you have a helper and the two of you speak in code.


8 posted on 03/02/2025 1:03:48 PM PST by Jeff Chandler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Demanding truck drivers on US roads to read English is obvious racism.


9 posted on 03/02/2025 1:03:58 PM PST by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

We have a flood of (non-English-speaking) drivers entering the United States.

Shut those companies down examples must be made to remove risks and lives.


10 posted on 03/02/2025 1:04:41 PM PST by Vaduz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

No surprise. When I was trucking in 2019, I was shocked how many migrants from all over the world were behind the wheel. Combined that with the constant reduction of the independent owner-operators, the industry only wants cheap labor.

They totally ignore patriotic truckers are best for the country in terms of safety for everyone.


11 posted on 03/02/2025 1:05:14 PM PST by Salvavida (NS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

12 posted on 03/02/2025 1:05:43 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

He needs to also be able to converse with other drivers. Twice now we have driven into the front range of Colorado on Hwy 70 to 22 to 25 when there was ice, snow, and even tornadoes. Although we could see the danger, it was when all the semis began pulling off of the road at about the same time that we knew it was time to pull over. They were talking to each other and getting info from further north. They were listening to the storm chasers.


13 posted on 03/02/2025 1:06:38 PM PST by Mercat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: VTenigma

exactly ...


14 posted on 03/02/2025 1:07:08 PM PST by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: CFW
No one could possibly see this coming...
15 posted on 03/02/2025 1:08:04 PM PST by null and void (Americans are a people increasingly separated by our connectivity. H/T MortMan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Que?


16 posted on 03/02/2025 1:09:25 PM PST by mrmeyer (You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. Robert Heinlein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

There is an obvious cure to the problem...
Instant deportaion to Gitmo...
OR
Have the police call in a drone strike, then post the video...


17 posted on 03/02/2025 1:10:34 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is rabble-rising Sam Adams now that we need him? Is his name Trump, now?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Two words.

Cell phones... texting and driving. 9 out of 10 swerving trucks I have encountered are operated by drivers who are seen texting and are also (routinely) fine representatives of the United Nations.


18 posted on 03/02/2025 1:11:56 PM PST by freepersup (“Those who conceal crimes are preparing to commit new ones.” ~Vuk Draskovic~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

I used to work in corporate logistics. A number of our factories had a constant problem with non-English speaking drivers who would show up in shorts and flip-flops and unscheduled.
Time was spent (wasted?) trying to tell them they were the back of the line. While waiting outside of their tractor, they would wander around the mill.

And that was 15 years ago. I can not imagine today!


19 posted on 03/02/2025 1:11:57 PM PST by llevrok (Keep buggering on!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Maybe these drivers “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” der Bruder.


20 posted on 03/02/2025 1:13:15 PM PST by kawhill ("How did this guy look? Oh, sorta funny lookin'. In what way? Oh, kind of in a general way. I see." )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson