I have a bit different perspective on truck drivers than most. Why? Because I am one. I’m out here week after week, hauling freight. I’m in the travel centers and I meet lots of drivers. Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, I’m a lifelong Republican and that’s not going to change. What I’m not is a sheep.
These accidents that we keep seeing on the news aren’t caused by the truck drivers not being able to read the signs, understand our laws, or being able to read the FMCSA. These accidents are caused by a truck driver doing something stupid. That U-Turn in Florida? The No U-Turn sign in India looks just like the No U-Turn sign in Florida (except the arrow points the other way). In Europe drivers 5-10 country borders in a month and they do not speak the languages of every country they enter. Language isn’t the issue. Lack of training and making stupid decisions is the problem.
Every day, good old American truck drivers also make stupid mistakes that cause accidents. It happens every day. It’s just not as big of a headline. No state legally issues a CDL to someone who is undocumented. No state, not even California. Yes, there is a requirement that a driver be proficient in the English language, we call that an ELP violation. It’s an out of service violation if you are more than 100 miles from the border, it’s not an OOS closer.
The big problem is that we let all these people enter the country illegally, then issued them work permits. Once they have a work permit they are no longer undocumented. They have the necessary paperwork to get a non-domiciled CDL (which are temporarily on pause at the moment). In addition, immigration status and national origin are protected classes. That means you cannot refuse to hire someone solely based upon their immigration status IF THEY CLEAR E-VERIFY. Which anyone with a work permit does.
Cleaning this up isn’t as simple as waving a wand, making a regulation, and grabbing on the highway. There are only so many weigh stations, and only so many inspections can be done each day.