Feds Look to Tighten Laws Requiring Truckers to Speak English

FoxNews ^ | July 15, 2008 | Staff Writer

[Tennessee Nana]

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Manuel Castillo was driving a truck through Alabama hauling onions and left with a $500 ticket for something he didn't think he was doing: speaking English poorly.

Castillo, who was stopped on his way back to California, said he knows federal law requires him to be able to converse in English with an officer but he thought his language skills were good enough to avoid a ticket.

Still, Castillo said he plans to pay the maximum fine of $500 rather than return to Alabama to fight the ticket.

"It just doesn't seem fair to be ticketed if I wasn't doing anything dangerous on the road," he said.

Federal law requires that anyone with a commercial drivers license speak English well enough to talk with police. Authorities last year issued 25,230 tickets nationwide for violations. Now the federal government is trying to tighten the English requirement, saying the change is needed for safety reasons.

Most states let truckers and bus drivers take at least part of their license tests in languages other than English. But the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed rules requiring anyone applying for a commercial drivers license to speak English during their road test and vehicle inspection. The agency wants to change its rules to eliminate the use of interpreters, and congressional approval isn't required.

[The_Media_never_lie]

"It just doesn't seem fair to be ticketed if I wasn't doing anything dangerous on the road," he said.

If he really said this, he shouldn't have been ticketed.

[icwhatudo]

""It just doesn't seem fair to be ticketed if I wasn't doing anything dangerous on the road," he said."

Ummm....read that again and tell me how many here think he really said that. I don't even speak that well-LOL.

[50cal Smokepole]

Hi, Silvie!

[antiunion person]

(Castillo, who was stopped on his way back to California)
What a surprise this trucker was en-route back to his home state, Mexifornia, where if you speak English you're either racist, prejudice or both.
(Limiting the road portion of the CDL test to English-only conversation)
As long as California has its’ way, this will never happen. Most citations given to Mexican drivers are never paid and all the driver has to do is get another license under another name. This doesn't only pertain to Mexican drivers either. Many middle eastern drivers run with up to four drivers in the truck and only one has a license. The rest of them run under the ‘legal’ drivers’ license. I have personally seen this and have been told, by cops I used to work with, that this is an ongoing problem. Most officers will only stop truckers that are white, black or look like they will be able pay for the citations. Why bother with the people the state won't get any money from and waste court time.

[Dagny&Hank]

Do they require the drivers of Mexico trucks running in this country to have a US license? Unless the law has changed I think they drive with a Mexico license or maybe none at all. I use to talk to some of these Mexico drivers and they know very few English words. So I guess we are picking on the ones that live in this country.

Just like commercial aircraft pilots having to speak and understand English, at least all commercial truckers in America should have the same requirement -- and that would put the brakes on most Mexican truckers coming into America.

[Rebelbase]

The state DMV has stumbled onto a revenue gold mine.

[Viking2002]

Sooory if mye tiping iz badd, but i saww yer grafic and shot mye monitur oout.....i thimk i killd at leest thuree rivver rats, tho......

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

LULAC, MALDEF, La Raza, etc. say...

[Tennessee Nana]

Oh, go jump over a south bound wall...

;)

[raygun]

I don't know if there's a problem there.

All I remember is that my first day in kindergarten was fraught with angest in that the teacher didn't wan't to deal with me despite my meeting the requirements:

• tie shoes by oneself
• count to ten
• recite alphabet (in English)

Are these requirements no longer necessary?

[Tennessee Nana]

President Obama will outlaw all 3 ...

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Ya’ know what ain’t funi,,,

All the owner-operators that have gone under because of

Fuel costs and US companies that hire Mexican truckers

at a cut rate,,,

A guy down the road from me had both of his

White RoadCommanders for sale in his front yard last month.

He drove one and his wife drove the other,,,

I hope Manuel’s boss is happy,,,

FWIW when I clicked on the link to this story my Spy Sweeper

just went off~~~TribalFusion Cookie~~~Spy Ware~~~!

Got 6 so far,,,

YA’LL MITE WANT TO SWEEP YOUR SYSTEMS!!!

[headstamp 2]

“What we have heeah is a faileeah to communicate.”

Wut we hav heya, is faya....to cummunicate.

LOL

[raygun]

I’m unclear what you’re saying.

Please present source material where those standards have been subverted.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

overture~atlas dmt~apmebf~pointroll~adrevolver~TribalFusion.

ALL SPY COOKIES!!!

I just swept my system earlier today and it was clean!!!

Got to dump everything and re-logg-in,,,

All that clicked on that link check your system!!!DAMMIT!!!

[Not just another dumb blonde]

This guy was interviewed in spanish. He’s been here for 20 years and he’s still more comfortable speaking in spanish, THIS is the problem. This is most definitely a safety issue. DOT regs require they are able to speak and read the english language, if they have a usa issued cdl it shouldn’t be a problem. My husband told me a while back that some states were shutting down some of these drivers because they couldn’t carry on a conversation in english, and more power to them.

It scares the hell out of me that there’s so many middle-eastern truck drivers out there, oh my bad, that was so very politically incorrect. I question alot of truck drivers out there and their supposed cdl. It’s not hard to get one. My husband had a student who lived in Danville, CA but his cdl was issued out of Michigan, and yeah, the hair on the back of my neck tweaks sometimes. You’d be scared too if you knew alot of those with cdl’s shouldn’t have them in the first place.

[July 4th]

Can you get pulled over for not being able to speak English? Like if an officer pulls up along side you and hears you singing in Spanish? That would be an interesting bust...

[Shadowstrike]

you call it ‘picking’ to require that someone driving a load, of what might be, hazardous material to speak english?

Then I am proud to be that picky.

[Grams A]

We got stopped for speeding a couple of years ago in Bama - 15 miles over the speed limit. Had a choice, follow the officer to the court and pay the fine or follow the officer and spend the night at the jail. Leaving and coming back for a court date wasn’t one of our choices. So why can’t they do that with these guys? I’m sure there are plenty of JP’s who would be happy to reconvene court long enough to slam the gavel and show the perp to the collection window??? $500 is nothing to sneeze at.

[Califreak]

More attrition!

Keep it coming folks!