All truckers and bus drivers will be required to take commercial driver’s license tests in English | The Seattle Times

[Brian Kegerreis]

All truckers and bus drivers will be required to take commercial driver’s license tests in English | The Seattle Times https://share.google/tehnTLZUlh53mcEHZ 

This is so much common sense it's like Captain Obvious woke up from his slumber and did something.

[kan...@aol.com]

Looks to me like the fly-by-night trucking schools might be a problem, too.

Are there good stats that show that a language issue is associated with higher accident rates? If so, then this makes sense. If not, then  it's just another way to vilify immigrants. 

And, if it's sauce for the goose, how about the gander? Shouldn't EVERY driver on the road have the same language proficiency? I'd really hate to get hit by a semi; but I don't love the idea of being hit by a large SUV either. 

Truck accidents make for good news; but this is like those "have you seen this child" milk carton ads. Thousands more people are killed/injured by car wrecks, often related to alcohol consumption. But those accidents/deaths haven't declined much. Maybe we should mandate that cars have breathalyzer locks on them. 

[Brian Kegerreis]

I had the pleasure or the pain of teaching many immigrant students. The worse their English was the harder ot was to teach them, obviously.

However the thing that scared me.was thier inability to process unusual signage. For example those trailers you see on the side of the road around construction zones with words like traffic stopped ahead were incredibly hard for some slow readers to read and understand at 65 miles an hour. Imagine a driver not being able to read three of them each telling you the stopped traffic was closer and then the last sign. Now imagine the damage a 80000# truck can fo to a gaggle of stopped cars on the highway.

So yes it really is that dangerous and far more deadly than an suv.

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[kan...@aol.com]

Good call. Of course a loaded semi is way more dangerous than any auto. That said, I wonder if stats bear out what you have seen. 

Logic would say "yes". But in my experience in a different field, logic doesn't always carry the day. But a short Google search produces this:

  Recent data indicates that commercial truck drivers with English Language Proficiency (ELP) violations are involved in DOT-recordable crashes at nearly twice the national average, suggesting a higher risk. These violations, indicating a failure to meet federal requirements for reading/speaking English, show a stronger correlation with accidents than speeding or drug/alcohol violations. 

So that pretty much settles it. Common sense wins the day. Get a law passed. 

[GMoney]

On Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 12:37 AM 'kan...@aol.com' via Kansas City Diversity Coalition <kansas-city-div...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Good call. Of course a loaded semi is way more dangerous than any auto. That said, I wonder if stats bear out what you have seen. 

Logic would say "yes". But in my experience in a different field, logic doesn't always carry the day. But a short Google search produces this:

  Recent data indicates that commercial truck drivers with English Language Proficiency (ELP) violations are involved in DOT-recordable crashes at nearly twice the national average, suggesting a higher risk. These violations, indicating a failure to meet federal requirements for reading/speaking English, show a stronger correlation with accidents than speeding or drug/alcohol violations. 

So that pretty much settles it. Common sense wins the day. Get a law passed. 

Makes sense. 

There is no national language and nothing that says an immigrant has to learn English to live here....but man, it sure makes their lives easier. And yes, it will continue to be a roadblock to certain jobs/industries where this ability is a base requirement. 

 

[kan...@aol.com]

If reading traffic signs while at speed is part of the job, then some English proficiency seems like a logical requirement. 

Cutting up a chicken/cow likely doesn't require so much language skill.