English Speaking Drivers Is The Law

Seems like common sense. Plus it was already a law or rule but they ignored it.

 

As someone who travels frequently around the world often renting a car and driving in a foreign country, I absolutely support the idea that you need to be able to interpret and communicate English on at least a basic level to be able to drive a commercial vehicle in this country. I know how hard it is to drive a small little rental car in a foreign country, when I don’t speak or read their language much less a commercial vehicle. You maneuver and make adjustments and get yourself out of situations when you’re in a small car. A semi truck you better know certain things.

it’s nothing against people coming here legally wanting to better their lives. If they follow the steps just like the rest of us had to do I have no issue with that. The problem is the people that they are currently putting behind the wheel of these commercial vehicles have no intention of following our traditions, our regulations rules and laws. None whatsoever, they don’t even know what they are most of the time. I figured out a while back a lot of times when we see these people parking in the fuel aisle to go in or get food or wash themselves or their truck they simply do not know that this is something frowned upon by all drivers. They just literally do not know.

 

I fully support this overdue regulations return

 

It's going to be interesting, I'll say that

 

Let's see if, and how, it's enforced.

 

I’m uninformed, but what is the enforcement of it actually going to be? Is it like an SAP-esque thing where once you get dinged for it, you can’t return to work until you can say otherwise? Is it just a violation and then continue on as normal? I can’t imagine it’ll change things much if it’s just a simple violation with no long term consequences. The same carriers that are hiring non-English speaking drivers are typically in the 30-40% OOS range anyways. What’s one more little ding going to do? Not to generalize too much, but drivers that can’t speak or read English are most likely not overly concerned with trying to protect their PSP so they can go work for UPS or Walmart lol.

If it’s an SAP type situation where there’s a return to work process, I’d imagine it could make a substantial difference.

If we’re going with long term benefits of strict enforcement, I’d imagine it could do well for slowly getting rid of fly-by-night carriers. They might not realize it due to language barriers, but those drivers stuck working at shady places due to language barriers would be far better off becoming fluent, so they can find quality employment. I’d imagine due to lack of communication with fellow drivers, a lot of non-fluent drivers might not even realize how rough their current employment situation even is.

 

It's all politics. They won't enforce it. The big shots all want cheap cheap labor so they can line their pockets. Politicians are the biggest most notorious human traffickers there are.

 

Under a different administration, that's actually competent, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Under this administration, I feel it's just loud speak. I think in this particular group of fools leading us is more driven by prejudice under the guise of safety. They know absolutely nothing about anything, especially about trucking. I do see scenarios where there won't be objectivity. I see scenarios of drivers being unfairly profiled and singled out because of their name or look, and they could be as American as anybody. I'm just not sure how many people will actually get put out of service, it isn't this huge number of foreigners in the industry. It's still overwhelmingly American.

 

I don't know how many foreigners don't speak English. They are automatically assumed to not speak English if they don't look or sound American. Sure there may be language barriers at times, but many I've come across speak well enough to get by, and I understand them fine. If they really wanted to weed them out, they'd outlaw GPS systems and make it mandatory that drivers know how to read an atlas. Those who are not proficient in English are somewhat protected by using navigation systems in my view. They get CDLs because I think they understand American soil better than most give them credit for. They just stay loyal to their own, like every other ethnicity does.