Drivers who fail English tests will be sidelined under Trump’s order reversing Obama’s changes
- Trump’s order reinstates strict English literacy testing for all commercial truck drivers nationwide.
- Drivers who cannot read or speak English sufficiently will be placed immediately out of service.
- Obama’s 2016 rule allowing non-English-speaking drivers has now been fully reversed by Trump.
In an industry already juggling driver shortages, new regulations, and the push toward automation, yet another priority has landed squarely on trucking’s crowded plate. Reading and being able to speak English is now a paramount concern in the trucking industry.
Since 2001, CDL drivers have been under a lawful order to read and write the English language “sufficiently to converse with the general public.” After the Obama administration weakened that rule, the Trump administration decided to take the opposite approach. Trump has now signed an order requiring that drivers who cannot read and write in English stay off the road entirely.
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When the original law took effect in 2001, the focus was straightforward. Drivers needed to be able to understand traffic signs and signals, respond to official inquiries, and accurately complete reports and records. It was about ensuring that basic communication skills were part of operating massive, fast-moving machinery on public highways. In 2016, however, the Obama administration relaxed that requirement, making it possible for drivers without sufficient English skills to remain behind the wheel.
Trump’s new order requires English literacy testing for CDL drivers. It also means that those who don’t pass will end up placed out of service. “Proficiency in English… should be a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers. They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers. Drivers need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English. This is common sense,” the order stated.
A Rule That Divides Opinions
This move is an interesting one that seems to be splitting opinions. Freight Waves pointed out in its coverage that “An informal sampling of over 500 comments submitted to the Department of Transportation after its recent request for recommendations on regulations that should be scrapped or revised found that roughly 10% – mostly owner-operators – want the department to enforce CDL requirements on speaking English.”
Interestingly, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance once voted to remove the English language requirement altogether, arguing it “could not substantiate the safety impacts.” Despite that history, the Department of Transportation has already issued new directions to the CVSA, ordering the inclusion of Trump’s literacy standards in its evaluation criteria.
“Federal law is clear, a driver who cannot sufficiently read or speak English—our national language—and understand road signs is unqualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle in America. This commonsense standard should have never been abandoned,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “This Department will always put America’s truck drivers first.”
In the end, trucking companies will have to navigate yet another layer of compliance, while drivers hoping to enter or stay in the field face higher language proficiency demands. Whether this shift actually makes the roads safer or just thins out an already stretched workforce is a question no one seems in a hurry to answer.
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