.gif)
Show Your Drivers You Care! Put a Healthy Trucking Kiosk in Your Terminal
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
-- Peter F. Drucker
Last year, authorities issued more than 25,000 tickets nationwide to drivers with poor English-language skills, according to USA Today. Now the federal government is trying to further tighten the requirements.
Most states allow drivers to take their CDL tests in languages other than English, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently proposed rules requiring CDL applicants to speak English during their road test and vehicle inspection and to eliminate the use of interpreters during the test. Drivers could still take written tests in other languages, where states permit that, and they would not have to be entirely fluent during the road test.
“Our requirement is that drivers understand English well enough to respond to a roadside officer and to be able to converse,” says the FMCSA’s Bill Quade.
The American Trucking Associations supports the English-language rules for commercial drivers, noting that “it’s not a cultural requirement, it’s a safety requirement.”
The rule change, which would likely become effective next year, could have a tremendous impact on the transportation industry. Last year, more than 17 percent of the nation’s truck drivers were Hispanic, as were more than 11 percent of its bus drivers. For now, while the economy is slow, the rule would not have a major impact on hiring drivers, but once the economy picks up, the new rule could exacerbate the driver shortage, which is sure to rear its head again.
Sources: Roemer Report (used with permission), FMCSA, USA Today
