Trump administration revives English language requirement for truck drivers

The Trump administration on Tuesday took steps to begin enforcing a law that requires truck drivers to speak English.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was in Austin, Texas, where he signed an order to direct the Department of Transportation to enforce the law.

Duffy framed the move as a safety issue for America’s roadways. 

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“For too long, misguided policies have prioritized political correctness over safety of the American people,” Duffy said. 

Under federal law, a driver must “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”

The move came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 28 directing the Department of Transportation to include English literacy tests for our truckers.

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“You might not know, but there’s a lot of communication problems between truckers on the road with federal officials and local officials, as well, which obviously is a public safety risk,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the time. “So we’re going to ensure that our truckers, who are the backbone of our economy, are all able to speak English. That’s a very commonsense policy.” 

Before 2015, more than 99,000 drivers had English proficiency violations and a thousand were taken out of service, Duffy said. 

Many of those drivers were given a “slap on the wrist,” he said. 

“English is the language of opportunity in America,” the secretary said. “Allowing drivers who can not read stop signs, or understand police officers’ instructions to operate an 80,000-pound big rig threatens the safety of every American on our roadways.”

Moving forward, truckers would be taken out of service if they are pulled over and found unable to speak English.