The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, in an emergency meeting of its board of directors, voted to add English language proficiency to its commercial motor vehicle driver out-of-service criteria to respond to President Donald Trump’s order for stricter enforcement of federal regulations regarding English proficiency.

The move is in response to the April 28 executive order, “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers.”

The CVSA board voted to add non-compliance with Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 391.11(b)(2) to its CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria. It will be effective June 25.

What do the New Out-of-Service Criteria Say About Drivers and English Proficiency?

CVSA will add an “English Proficiency (U.S. Only)” heading to the “Part I – Driver” section of the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria with the following language: 

“Driver cannot read and speak the English language sufficiently to communicate with the safety official to respond to official inquiries and directions in accordance with FMCSA enforcement guidance. (391.11(b)(2)) Declare driver out of service.”

Federal regulations, under “general qualifications of drivers,” already state that a driver must be able to read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.

The CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria details the criteria that prohibit a motor carrier or driver from operating a commercial motor vehicle. 

By adding English language proficiency to the out-of-service criteria, a commercial motor vehicle inspector may place a driver out of service if they cannot demonstrate proficiency in reading and speaking English. 

Enforcement Guidelines in the Works, says DOT

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will issue guidance for commercial motor vehicle inspectors to ensure enforcement of the English language proficiency standard is applied consistently, according to the Department of Transportation.

This revision to the out-of-service criteria was approved by the board under an emergency provision within the CVSA Bylaws, which allows the board to vote on a change to the out-of-service criteria without a vote by Class I Members, which is the usual process for changes to the criteria. 

The board used the emergency bylaw provision to meet the president’s 60-day deadline, as noted in his executive order.

In addition, CVSA will petition FMCSA to update 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2) to identify non-compliance with English language proficiency as an out-of-service condition. 

CVSA will also send a petition FMCSA requesting that the agency harmonize the commercial driver’s license English language requirements in 49 CFR Part 383 “Commercial Driver’s License Standards” with those in 49 CFR Part 391 “Qualifications of Drivers and Longer Combination Vehicle (LCV) Driver Instructors” so that the standards are consistent.