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has been considerable sound and fury in Congress lately over the
issue of Mexican trucks being allowed on American roads. Yet little
has been said about whether all drivers of American trucks actually
speak English, let alone Mexican truck drivers.
Any resident
of the United States who wishes to drive a truck over a certain
size is first required to obtain a Commercial Driver's License,
known, redundantly, as a CDL license. One qualification for a CDL
license, according to 49 CFR 391.11, is that the applicant
[c]an 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.
End of story,
right? Not really. It turns out the federal government is not enforcing
this law at all. A quick trip via the Internet to the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration Regulatory
Guidance on this law reveals the following:
§383.133
Testing Methods
Question
1: May States administer the CDL knowledge and endorsement test
in foreign languages or in other than a written format?
Guidance:
Yes.
If a truck
driver has so much difficulty with English that he must take the
CDL test in another language, there is good reason for concern over
his ability to understand an unusual warning sign while speeding
along a highway in an 18-wheeler.
If this wasn't
bad enough, it also turns out that the federal government does not
encourage states to do anything to actually verify a CDL applicant's
claim that he speaks English:
§383.73
State Procedures
Question
1: Does the State have any role in certifying compliance with
§391.11(b)(2) of the FMCSRs, which requires driver competence
in the English language?
Guidance:
No. The driver must certify that he or she meets the qualifications
of part 391. The State is under no duty to verify the certification
by giving exams or tests.
Given that
the federal government has taken so little interest in the ability
of American truck drivers to read English, it is not unexpected
that neither supporters nor opponents of Mexican trucks on American
highways have raised the language issue. They should.
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