Originally published at: Is English proficiency enforcement the right focus for safer roads? - FreightWaves
Critics of the reinstatement of English language proficiency out-of-service violations argue that the directive is more political than practical and risks diverting attention from more pressing safety issues on U.S. highways.
It wasn’t meant to make the road safer. It was there to satisfy the people who get angry everytime they hear another language spoken. In forums for every accident it is the first thing blamed even if its not possible to have been language related. Its just bitterness and resentment.
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Lack of English proficiency does not cause accidents. Speed, Alcohol and drugs are the three leading causes. Interestingly enough American lobbyist groups are fighting against more stringent regulations against changes in these three categories. Go ahead, reduce the number of available truckers. Wages will not increase but rather speed up the implementation of driverless rigs.
Nonsense.
Is it “the right focus”…? It’s ONE of MANY right foci.
Let’s not pretend we’re so incompetent that we can’t have multiple vectors running concurrently to improve driving across the board.
English proficiency DOES matter. It’s not ALL that matters.
i think english should be illegal and american the law of the land
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Can you translate what you said into English?
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no but i can translate into american
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Complete nonsense.
Its not language thats causing accidents. Its Culture. The turban heads are nuts. They cause 99% of the truck accidents. Look at any video of traffic in east indian countries. Its crazy life means nothing to them. They even boast it on their trucks. They bring that attitude with them to American highways. Call me what you will but I see what I see on the road.
Culture? Is your argument really that drivers come from countries where it’s “culture” to cause accidents?
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The US DOT is at fault. There is no standard when it comes to obtaining a CDL, there is no standard when it comes to passing health examinations, there is no standard to DOT inspections, etc. Once we have a system that is built to promote skilled drivers, these issues won’t go away.
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Nope. It exactly true.
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my question is how do these trucks manage to not crash in non-english speaking countries???
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Or how about this… outside of any English-speaking country, how many of those drivers don’t speak English? all of them.
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The questions should be: How many of the major violations cited in this article are because of insufficient understanding of the English language? How many are deliberate? And what’s the overlap? Unless we know the answers it could be that enforcement of the ELP will reduce these violations because it will take those who commit them off the road.
Does speaking English or not make roads safer? Yes. But what about ELD hours of service violations? I met three Russian drivers who have been driving for 90 days without a reset, forced to keep going to pay off their debt for coming to the country. What happens with authorities that don’t finish auditing companies like Motive, Samsara, Verizon Connect?
You answered an or question with a yes. Which one is it?
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Thats not because of language. Those are trafficked people and eould be caught with eld violations not english violations