A fatal truck crash earlier this month in Florida garnered national and international headlines, raising a debate about CDL standards and the importance of truck drivers being able to comprehend English.
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened action against states who don’t comply with English-proficiency regulations for commercial motor vehicle drivers.
“All of us in America saw what happened in Florida, where we had an individual who we tested after the crash but could not speak the English language and could not understand road signs when he was operating that very deadly rig,” Duffy said during a news conference. “We at DOT and (FMCSA) are not going to tolerate states that don’t comply with the rules that come from this department.”
Duffy specifically called out Washington, California and New Mexico for not enforcing English-proficiency regulations.
“States don’t get to pick and choose which federal safety rules to follow,” Duffy said in a statement. “As we saw with the horrific Florida crash that killed three, when states fail to enforce the law, they put the driving public in danger. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are taking aggressive action to close these safety gaps, hold states accountable and make sure every commercial driver on the road is qualified to operate a 40-ton vehicle.”
If Washington, California and New Mexico fail to adopt and enforce English-proficiency requirements for commercial motor vehicle drivers within 30 days, Duffy said the DOT will withhold up to 100% of their funding from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program. He added that additional disciplinary actions will be taken if the states continue not to comply.
“Hopefully in the next 30 days, we won’t have to withhold any money from them,” Duffy said. “But if they don’t come into compliance, we will start with withholding this money and then we will take additional steps to guarantee compliance. Just to be clear, this isn’t about having some obscure rule that we want them to comply with about truck drivers being able to speak English proficiently. This is about keeping people safe on the road … We need to make sure that the people who are driving big rigs can understand the road signs, that they’ve been well-trained and when they’re stopped by law enforcement … they can effectively communicate …”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which petitioned the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance in March to begin placing non-English-speaking truck drivers out of service, supports the Department of Transportation’s actions to take unsafe drivers off the road.
“OOIDA strongly supports Secretary Duffy’s action to enforce long-standing English-proficiency requirements for commercial drivers,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “Basic English skills are critical for safely operating a commercial motor vehicle – reading road signs, following emergency instructions and communicating with law enforcement are not optional. The fatal crash in Florida this month tragically illustrates what’s at stake. Road signs save lives, but only when they’re understood. Operating an 80,000-pound vehicle without being able to read road signs isn’t just dangerous; it’s completely unacceptable. We join U.S. DOT in calling on California, New Mexico, Washington and all other states to enforce English Language Proficiency requirements as an out-of-service violation. This is common sense, and it protects everyone on the road.”
Fatal truck crash
On Aug. 12 in St. Lucie County, Fla., a minivan crashed into a tractor-trailer driven by 28-year-old Harjinder Singh. All three of the van’s occupants were killed in the crash.
The initial investigation indicated that Singh executed an illegal U-turn that led to the crash. Singh was arrested for three counts of vehicular homicide. According to The Associated Press, the federal government asked for Singh to be transferred to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his criminal case is completed.
DOT officials said the agency’s preliminary investigation found that Singh was incorrectly issued a full-term CDL by Washington in 2023 before being given a non-domiciled CDL by California in 2024. Additionally, FMCSA officials determined that Singh did not meet English-proficiency standards.
According to the DOT, Singh provided correct responses to only two of 12 verbal questions and was able to accurately identify only one of four highway traffic signs. The DOT said Singh was issued a speeding ticket on July 3 in New Mexico but was not given any violations for inability to speak English.
ELP enforcement
On May 20, Duffy joined OOIDA officials in Austin, Texas, to announce that the DOT would begin enforcing an existing regulation that requires CDL holders to demonstrate basic English proficiency.
Enforcement took effect June 25. However, Duffy said that California, Washington and New Mexico have not been complying.
The DOT said that California administered about 34,000 inspections with at least one reported violation from June 25 through Aug. 21 but that only one resulted in an out-of-service violation for lack of English proficiency.
“Notably, at least 23 drivers with documented ELP out-of-service violations in other states were later inspected in California – yet the state failed to honor those violations or enforce ELP, allowing unqualified drivers to continue operating on our roads,” the DOT wrote in a news release.
The DOT added that Washington and New Mexico also “failed to honor” ELP violations given in other states. LL
Credit: Source link
