Two seemingly foreign truck drivers were ticketed while driving transport trucks through rural Alabama.
A state trooper from Dekalb County, Alabama, may have been among the first in the nation to issue tickets under President Trump’s executive order that compels the use of “commonsense rules” in the trucking industry.
‘They can’t communicate, and they can’t read road signs.’
The state trooper pulled over one driver from Texas and another from Florida to issue them tickets for not abiding by a simple new rule applied to truckers: Be proficient in English.
According to a report from WAFF 48, both tickets written by the trooper read, “Non-English-Speaking Driver” as the reason for the infraction. While it is unclear if these truckers were foreign nationals or illegal aliens, it may surprise some to learn that the standard for truckers needing to speak English has been around since the 1930s, according to outlet WTOC 11.
Mark Colson, CEO of the Alabama Trucking Association, commented on the matter and stated, “The English language proficiency standard has been there for a long time,” and that the Barack Obama administration actually loosened enforcement on the rules and lowered penalties, he added.
A White House fact sheet explained in late April that the secretary of transportation was ordered to rescind guidance that “watered down the law” in terms of requiring English proficiency for commercial drivers, which was issued under President Obama.
A bilingual truck driver from Huntsville, Alabama — who is American — was also asked to give his thoughts, and he was not forgiving to truckers who do not speak the country’s now-official language.
Driver Jose Reyes said the number of drivers who do not speak English would “be a shock to a lot of people.”
“Drivers are out here on the road, they’re operating 80,000 pounds, and it’s super dangerous. They can’t communicate, and they can’t read road signs,” Reyes said.
The Alabama Trucking Association and Reyes agree: It is all about safety. Colson said being able to read the rules of the road and communicate with law enforcement, or anyone, is paramount.
Reyes added, it is a matter of safety to “get those drivers off the road because they can’t read or write basic English.”
A recent report from KTSM 9 News said truck drivers from Mexican companies are now scrambling to learn English so they are not ticketed while driving in the United States.
The Juarez Transportation Association in Mexico has been providing English classes for some of its drivers, one of whom told reporters that he was told “a long time ago” he needed to learn to speak English.
“Today, it is more necessary across the border,” said the commercial truck driver.
For now, Reyes says non-English-speaking drivers are “having to use Google Translate to be able to talk to people, and you shouldn’t have to do that.”
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