The following article by Heavy Duty Trucking’s Editor and Associate Publisher Deborah Lockridge has been abridged. To read the full article, click here.
In a new executive order signed April 28, “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers,” the President directed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to rescind a 2016 FMCSA guidance on enforcement of English language proficiency requirements for truck drivers and replace it within 60 days.
Although many news reports on Trump’s expected executive order said it was “requiring truck drivers to speak English,” in fact, as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pointed out, English proficiency for truck drivers is already a part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
According to those regulations, to drive a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce, drivers must be able to speak and read English satisfactorily to:
- Converse with the general public.
- Understand traffic signs and signals.
- Respond to official questions.
- Make legible entries on reports and records.
What the executive order takes aim at is actually an Obama-era memorandum directing law enforcement officials to not put non-English-speaking truckers out of service.
The EO instructs the agency to rescind that guidance document titled and issue new guidance to FMCSA and enforcement personnel outlining revised inspection procedures, including “to ensure that the out-of-service criteria are revised such that a violation of the English language proficiency requirement results in the driver being placed out-of-service, including by working with the relevant entities responsible for establishing the out-of-service criteria.”
Trucking groups as diverse as the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association have called on the federal government to update the policy.
The President’s executive order calls on the FMCSA to review non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by relevant state agencies to identify any unusual patterns or numbers or other irregularities, and to evaluate and take appropriate actions to improve the effectiveness of current protocols for verifying the authenticity and validity of both domestic and international commercial driving credentials.
In addition, a short section called “Supporting America’s Truck Drivers” instructs the transportation secretary to “identify and begin carrying out additional administrative, regulatory, or enforcement actions to improve the working conditions of America’s truck drivers,” within 60 days.
