Help please. fmcsa 391.11(b)(2)

First and foremost I have to be able to get all the documents, CDL, Medical, registration, BOL's, log book and registrations. Most don't have a problem because someone tells them this is what is needed. But I verify where they are coming from and going to, because BOL's often times are not the origin or destination. I have to verify who the carrier is, and that is done by asking the driver. "You work for XYZ company?" A lot a Data Q's come from wrong assigned carriers on inspections. That is why that is done. I need to be able to check the items on the truck. A level I can be more confusing for a non English speaking individual. Mant times they are new to the industry to begin with. If they have to phone a friend to understand what I am asking, they are out. If they need a co-driver or passenger to understand me, they are out. If I can't understand anything they are telling me, they are out. I'm not required to speak the hundreds of languages, I speak the law of the land. The regulation is quite clear what language that is.

 

FINALLY !!! Somebody with gonads enough to enforce the law.Tell your partner to learn english and he`ll do fine.Good luck to him.Now if somebody else will write the other 96,000 up and place them out of service...

 

That's a #### good quote right there and it says it all simply and eloquently.

Even though "English" is not the "official" language of this nation (this has been beat up here before), it is the prevailing dialect that this country operates on.

We shouldn't have to learn Spanish, we don't earn Peso's here.

No Rubles, Francs, or Rupees either. You want to come earn American dollars on American soil, and pay American taxes to earn that American money on our American Highway Infrastructure, learn to speak the language of the land.

I would NOT go to Germany (on my bucket list) without a date with Ms. Rosetta Stone.

Press "1" indeed.

 

DB, possibly the best answer I have heard on this problem of non-English speaking drivers. Being from Florida, I see it as is a growing concern.
Last night I tried to help a man with a car that was blocking the fuel pumps,would not start. He did not speak a word of English, I do not speak Spanish. Finally just had to just give up, too frustrating.

 

I never meet anyone in Florida who spoke proper English..

 

have you ever meet someone from Boston that did....

 

DB as always a perfect answer clean clear and concise. Thanks

 

The minimum standard, according to 391.11, is "Can 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".

True story.

Me: Driver, let me see your driver's license and truck registration.
Driver: (head nods up and down, no movement to get license or registration)
Me: Driver, I need to see your driver's licence, CDL, please.
Driver: (head nods, no movement toward CDL)
Me: OK, how about your log book for today.
Driver: (head nods, smiles, no movement)
On and on like that for a while, until, as often happens in such circumstances, he pulls out his cell phone, dials the boss and wants the boss to interpret via the phone. The only thing I said to the boss was that his driver was out of service here at the scale, and he needed to get an english speaking driver headed this way to move the truck.

Yosya, we haven't heard from you in a while on this thread. I know you are not getting a lot of sympathy here. It is not about racism, so you can give that up. It has nothing to do with race. I has to do with having the means to be able to communicate and safely conduct the business you are engaged in.

I drove a truck for a few years myself. I cannot imagine transplanting myself into the middle of Europe or China and trying to drive a truck for a living without first being able to speak their language! I would not expect them to speak MY Language in THEIR own country. That's not racism, it is just common sense.

 

It is good to know that at least some DOT personnel are enforcing the English language requirement. I have met drivers out who don't understand English. I don't understand how they could even get their CDL without understanding the language. It would be much better if our elected representatives would simply make English our national language. Most other nations have a stated national language. They don't want to offend those illegals who speak Spanish.

 

My wife's family is Mexican, most of them born in Mexico yet they all speak good enough English for my half breed self to communicate with them. They learned because they all grew up before things like ESL where kids are coddled and never learn English. What irks me is that preventing immigrants from learning English has created a permanent underclass, most of them Mexican-American, who are most often taken advantage of wealthy Latinos who on one hand cry racism when you dare expect Mexican immigrants speak English yet have no problem hiring "Lupe" to care for their kids and clean their house for less than minimum wage because who is she going to complain to?

Its all politics, create an underclass and then prevent them from succeeding so you can champion their cause while you take advantage of them.