New Rules for Truck Drivers’ English Proficiency
On Thursday, the board of directors for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) decided to classify violations of English proficiency as grounds for placing truck drivers out of service. This move may lead to a considerable reduction in trucking capacity.
The emergency vote took place shortly after President Donald Trump issued an executive order mandating a revision of the federal out-of-service criteria to accommodate this policy change, reversing a more lenient standard that had been in effect for the past decade.
In 2016, during the Obama Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) eliminated the requirement for truck drivers to be put out of service due to violations of federal English language proficiency rules.
The new out-of-service regulation is set to take effect on June 25. CVSA announced that a commercial motor vehicle inspector can place a driver out of service if they are unable to demonstrate proficiency in reading and speaking English.
The FMCSA will provide guidelines for inspectors to ensure consistent enforcement of this English proficiency standard. While FMCSA establishes safety regulations in the trucking industry, CVSA, which includes state highway patrol officers, typically determines when violations are serious enough to warrant placing a driver out of service.
Insurance experts in the trucking sector estimate that around 10% of drivers lack English proficiency. With over 3 million interstate CDL drivers in the U.S., this new out-of-service rule could lead to a significant decline in market capacity.
CVSA clarified that its emergency provision bylaws allow the board to implement changes to the out-of-service criteria without the usual Class I Member vote, enabling them to meet the president’s 60-day deadline. Additionally, CVSA plans to petition the FMCSA to update the English proficiency regulation to formally categorize violations as an out-of-service condition.
