All truckers and truckers will have to take commercial driver’s license tests in English as the Trump administration expands its aggressive campaign to improve safety in the industry and keep unqualified drivers off the road.
Transport Minister Sean Duffy announced the latest efforts on Friday to ensure drivers understand English well enough to read road signs and communicate with law enforcement officers. Florida has already begun administering its tests in English.
Currently, many states allow drivers to take their licensing tests in other languages even though they are required to prove English proficiency. California offered tests in 20 other languages. A number of states have hired other companies to administer commercial driver’s license tests, and those companies are not enforcing the standards drivers are supposed to meet, Duffy said.
“The outside lab is involved in the scam because they don’t adequately test people who went to a phony school,” Duffy said.
He said every American wants the drivers behind the wheel of a big rig to be well-qualified to handle those vehicles.
The campaign will also now expand to prevent fraudulent trucking companies from getting into the business while continuing to go after questionable schools and ensuring states comply with all regulations for handing out business licenses.
Earlier this week, Dt He said that 557 driving schools should be closed Because they fail to meet basic safety standards. The administration has been aggressively going after states that handed out commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants who should not have qualified for them since a fatal crash in August.
The truck driver, who Duffy says was not authorized to be in the United States, made an illegal turn and caused an accident in Florida. Who killed three people. Other fatal crashes since then, including one in Indiana that killed four earlier this month, have heightened fears.
The registration system and requirements for trucking companies will be strengthened while Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration inspectors conduct more spot inspections of trucks and commercial driver’s license schools, Duffy said.
Currently, businesses only have to pay a few hundred dollars and show proof of insurance to register for business, and then may not be audited until a year or more later.
This made it easier for fraudulent companies known in the industry as war carriers to register multiple times under different names and then simply switch names and registration numbers to avoid any consequences after malfunctions or other violations occurred.
Officials are also trying to ensure that electronic recording devices used by drivers are accurate, and that states follow all regulations to ensure drivers qualify for commercial licenses.
After this Indiana accident, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration took the company that hired the driver out of service and withdrew the DOT numbers assigned to two other companies associated with AJ Partners. Tutash Express and Sam Express in the Chicago area were also disqualified, and the Aydana driving school attended by the truck driver involved in the accident lost its certification.
Immigration authorities arrested driver Bekzan Peshkiyev from Kyrgyzstan because the 30-year-old entered the country illegally. Authorities say he pulled out, tried to get around a truck that was slowing in front of him, and his truck collided with an oncoming truck.
In December, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration took action De-accreditation of up to 7,500 schools out of 16,000 Nationwide but that includes Many operations are defunct.
The companies involved in the Indiana crash were all registered to the same apartment, Duffy said. In other cases, there may be hundreds of companies registered at one address.