Commercial truck drivers in Texas are now required to know sufficient English so that they may converse with law enforcement, other English-speakers and read traffic signs. According to federal order, this is to ensure road safety and prevent misunderstood directions, especially with law enforcement or on reports and records that are required by commercial truck drivers.
This rule has existed for 90 years. The original law was passed in 1937 and stayed in effect until 2016, when former President Barack Obama’s administration told enforcers not to put commercial truck drivers out of service for not being able to speak a sufficient amount of English. President Donald Trump signed the executive order to bring the rule back.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been enforcing this rule since June of this year after an executive order was signed in May by Trump. Any commercial truck driver who cannot prove that they speak sufficient English without the help of others or apps can and will be cited or placed out of service.
The FMCSA has presented the two-part assessment that commercial drivers will take. The first part is a speech test, in which the driver will answer simple questions in English without any assistance. The second part is a traffic sign test; the driver must prove they can understand basic road signs, signals and electronic boards. Some states can give a written portion of the test in English or Spanish for their Commercial Drivers Licence, but the written and oral parts of the practice test must be in English only.
Trucking organizations have so far supported renewing the order, claiming that it would make roads safer. Assistance to help prepare existing drivers for these assessments includes English as a Second Language courses and pre-tests given by their employers or to themselves. Some concerns about this new executive order are the possible racial profiling of drivers as well as uneven treatment across the country according to Adam Wingfield, a former driver who is now a consultant for the industry.
“At the end of the day, the person who is enforcing is still a human and can have different kinds of biases,” WingField stated.
Multiple states have already removed drivers from roads. The top state is Texas, with almost 350 drivers removed from the roads. So far, 3,000 truck drivers have been taken off the roads across the nation because they have failed the English test.
Drivers will not receive their CDL if they can not speak sufficient English or read signs.
