Trucker Barred From Road For Not Speaking English

I would love to hop over to your country and drive a "Land Train". If someone offered trucking vacations in Australia I think he would make a ton of money.

 

Fluency in English is not a requirement for a license. We spend countless thousands of dollars printing up license tests and booklets in other languages. In many states, you can completely take your test in your native language. I have no problems with immigrants, my problem is immigrants demanding that we have to cater to them. If I were to move to Russia, they wouldn't print up the license documents, welfare documents, voter booklets, and other stuff in English. I would have to learn Russian before I could function in their society.

 

I have been looking and checking alot lately,you know when a construction area says all trucks stay left or right,pay attention to what happens,some move to the proper lane and some don't,now lokk real closely,I am convinced that these foreign drivers cannot even read those signs,they only move after everyone else does and sometimes never do. I hate it because it gets a little tighter and I don't want my mirrors all busted up because a driver needs my lane too.

 

According to KETV.com, who originally published the story:

The FMCSA does not require fluency in English, it merely requires:

Obviously, the driver the Nebraska State Patrol removed from the road, did not meet that standard. But there is nothing in the FMCSA rules to require the states to administer the CDL examination in English. I suspect this was a deliberate decision by our policy makers. Had they intended for CDL applicants to be fluent in English, they easily could have required the states to administer the CDL test using English only.

 

I think all tests should be done in english only. They need to loose all other languages and if they can not pass the test then they should not be on the road.

 

See, you are going about it all wrong. FCCSA deals with interstate, states can have their own laws when dealing with intrastate issues, but can't trump fed laws once you cross the state lines. That's why you can be 18 years old, drive a big truck and get 4,000 miles a week, if you live in TX, but can't do that in other states, nor can the 18 year old cross state lines driving. Legal in TX, but not legal for interstate. So the kid can have a legal TX CDL, but be legal only in TX for driving. Just can't cross the state lines.

How else do you think some of these people get their licenses? Chinese shippers with Chinese drivers dropping at Chinese markets, all in the US, be kinda boned with a English speaking driver.

 

1. There is nothing requiring a CDL holder to conduct all his/her business using the English language. A Chinese driver serving Chinese shippers and consignees is certainly free to converse with Chinese in their native language. That does not abrogate the state's responsibility to only issue licenses to people who can comprehend our traffic signs and laws, and to be able to communicate with law enforcement personnel.

2. If a state determines that it wishes to conduct CDL driver license exams in a language other than English in order to meet demands of intrastate commerce, the license issued could/should be limited to being valid only in intrastate commerce, just as it applies to a person under the age of 21 years.

 

I haven't read every post on this, so if I'm redundant please excuse me.

I wonder if this trooper wasn't on camera if anything would have been done. You know there are a lot of people driving trucks that can't speak or understand english very well, and I'm just not talking about the truckers from Georgia either. I wonder how many times this Russian has been pulled over by other troopers in other states?

 

Lets do a for instance here.

Scenario One: Say that the trooper pulls the truck in, and informs the driver that he is going to do a level one inspection. The driver nods his head and hands over all his paperwork. Then the trooper climbs under the truck with a creeper and hollers at the driver to hit the brakes. The driver, not understanding a word of what was said, assumes the inspection is over, puts the truck in gear and drives away, rolling the trailer tandems over the officer underneath his truck.

Scenario Two: The truck matches a description given in an Amber Alert of a missing child. A trooper pulls the truck over to the side of the road, and requests that the driver remain in the truck until a second officer arrives. The driver, carrying his paperwork, leaves the cab of the truck, despite the troopers repeated admonishments to remain where he is. The trooper, having the driver ignore his warnings to stay in the truck, draws his sidearm and fires upon the driver with the expected results.

A driver needs to understand and speak English to operate a truck on our roads. It's the law, not an option.