Originally published at: English Language Proficiency Standards Could Drive Rates Higher - FreightWaves
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is intensifying enforcement of English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards, signaling major operational changes for the trucking industry. As of today, June 25, 2025, drivers who fail to meet these requirements face immediate grounding, potentially straining trucking capacity, increasing tender rejections, and driving up national truckload rates. FreightWaves estimates…
What’s being done to penalize companies that hire people that don’t speak English? Or we just punishing drivers?
Why are you hiring people that don’t speak English, because you can pay them less? Shame on you trucking firms! Pay the English drivers well and ■■■■ it up!
As prior law enforcement this needs to be enforced on a nationwide basis including imponding trucks and taking cdl ATA no longer will dictate how this is done and CVSA will engage or lose federal grant money there sre eyes on this from the federal level any states not complying will lose all federal dollars
What I find interesting is the amount of discussion on this topic today compared to the lack of discussion when President Obama issued the directive to ignore the ELP requirements in 2016.
There were a lot of safety organizations against that decision, but there wasn’t the same media outcry that we seeing after President Trump reinstated the enforcement requirement.
I would like to see an investigation done regarding the last 4 years in which rate hit an all-time low, thousands of trucking companies went out of business, and tens of thousands of drivers lost their jobs! A lot of these drivers that do not speak English were able to get their own truck or get hired on with a company and be paid Pennies on the dollar! I would also still like to see more broker transparency when it comes to rates from the shipper. Brokers are stating that they can’t go above a certain rate without losing money but with sky high prices over the last 4 years somebody’s got to be pocketing the extra money. Whether it be brokers, shippers, someone needs to answer for the transportation industry turmoil we had to deal with! Would also like to know what they’re doing about requiring drivers to be trained in the United States, and not come over from another country with a CDL they obtained from that country or from some back of the Woods training facility! Just because you can drive a truck in another country doesn’t mean you can drive a truck in the United States. You should be required to go through a federally regulated CDL training facility along with being able to speak and read proficient English in order to drive in the United States
Its called the dmv. You can’t pass your roadtest if you dont speak english. People who get their licence else where are another story
Yes, thank you for the doom-and-gloom header . . . not buying it.