President Donald Trump signed an executive that would enforce existing regulations to require commercial drivers be proficient in speaking and reading the English language.
As stated in 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2), commercial drivers must be able to “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.”
Trump’s executive order, Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers, on requires the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to rescind its English Language Proficiency Testing and Enforcement Policy (MC-ECE-2016-006) that was issued in June 2016 and replace it with new guidance that outlines revised inspection procedures to ensure compliance with the federal law.
FMCSA is ordered to revise out-of-service criteria to reflect when a driver is found to be in violation of the English language proficiency requirement. FMCSA must also review non-domiciled CDLs issued by state agencies to identify “any unusual patterns or numbers or other irregularities” as well as evaluate and enforce current protocols for verifying the authenticity and validity of domestic and international commercial driving credentials.
The changes must be made by June 27.
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