U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy doubled down this week on the Trump administration policy of requiring proficiency in English for truck drivers operating big rigs on the road in America, warning of stiff consequences for non-compliance.
Duffy told Fox News that speaking and reading English were not just important for understanding road signs, but also for communicating with law enforcement in the event of an emergency.
“This is not a new rule,” he said. “The ‘English Only’ requirement…has been on the books for a long time, it’s just that Barack Obama made sure that if you violated that rule, it was a slap on the wrist. We’re going back to the old rule of ‘we’re going to put your rig out of service,’ and make sure that you don’t drive if you don’t speak the language.”
He said the policy was “common sense.”
“If you’re going to get on the road with one of these potentially dangerous vehicles, speak our language,” Duffy added.
The regulation in question was indeed softened by the Obama administration in 2016, when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration directed its inspectors not to place commercial motor vehicle drivers “out of service” for violations of the English proficiency policy.
As reported by RSBN, President Trump signed an executive order in late April aimed at prioritizing the safety and efficiency of truck drivers on U.S. roads. In that order, he included a directive requiring truck drivers to have proficiency in English, the language he designated as the official national language of the United States in a prior EO in March.
“America First means safety first,” Duffy said in an official statement in May. “Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs. This common-sense change ensures the penalty for failure to comply is more than a slap on the wrist.”