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 ...
BS...
He needs to read signs.
I think they need to take a closer look at those accidents...and BE HONEST.
Quelle surprise!
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.
A lot of H1B truckers were given class A licenses without having to take the test.
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.
Maybe if they didn’t make getting and keeping a CDL so onerous more “Americans” would get back into truck driving.
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.
Demanding truck drivers on US roads to read English is obvious racism.
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.
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.
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.
exactly ...
Que?
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...
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.
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!
Maybe these drivers “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” der Bruder.
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.